Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott
May 28, 2004
Last week, I wrote about finding a horned helmet snail — pu puhi in Hawaiian. The big shell measured about 12 inches long and was mostly buried in the sand. I saw the snail because my dive master spotted its topmost nob, or spire, and pointed it out.
About horned helmet shells, marine author John Hoover writes, “In early Hawaii the tip of the spire was knocked off and the shell was blown like a trumpet.”
I wrote that these were the only shells ancient Hawaiians used for horns. That’s wrong. They also tooted Triton’s trumpets. “The Triton’s trumpet is large enough to be used as a trumpet,” a reader e-mailed me, “and historically, it was the shell used by Polynesians. The use of helmet shells for this purpose is relatively recent in history.”
I don’t know which shell the ancients blew first, but I do know that Triton’s trumpet snails are widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific, including Hawaii. At their maximum of about 20 inches long, these snails are the second largest in the world. The largest is Australia’s Syrinx aruanus, which looks like a giant top and reaches 28 inches long.
Encrusting marine organisms often grow on the outside of Triton’s trumpets shells, but when clean, they look like the plumage of pheasants. And like most animals with beautiful shells, Triton’s trumpets are now rare because of collecting.
Like the horned helmets, Triton’s trumpets eat sea urchins, but they also eat crown-of-thorn starfish. When these coral-eating starfish go unchecked, they can devastate coral reefs.
One friend e-mailed me that, oddly, he had never thought of these big shells as snails before I wrote about them as such. Since most people never see the live animal in its shell, this is a common oversight.
When I’m shopping, I now view every seashell I see as the skeleton of a once-living marine animal that had a special place on the reef or ocean floor. This kills any urge I have to buy anything bearing shells.
Also, when I’m lucky enough to find a snail while diving, I admire it and then put it back where I found it.
The Triton’s trumpet snail got its name from the Greek god of the sea, Triton, who blew a shell trumpet to calm the waves. We Hawaii sailors often wish for a little of that magic when crossing the rough channels between our islands.
The reader who wrote me about helmet and trumpet snails also stated that helmet shells are not pink inside, as I wrote, but yellow.
The picture in my best Hawaii shell book looks pink and I could have sworn the ones at those roadside stands are pink too. But then, I’ve never stopped to look at them closely. Maybe they’re selling another species, such as queen conchs (pronounced konks).
If this is true, the shells are imported. Queen conchs are native only to the Caribbean and tropical Atlantic. These snails grow to 12 inches long and are also used as horns in their native areas. Queen conchs are cream colored outside and lovely pink inside.
Besides being beautiful, queen conchs are good to eat, a combination that nearly wiped out the lovely snails. In 1986 the U.S. banned all harvesting of queen conchs in American waters.
I have no idea what kinds of shells are being sold in those roadside stands, but I soon will. I’ll be stopping at the next one I see.