Marginellona gigas

MARGINELLONIDAE

Marginellona gigas  (C.E. Von Martens, 1904)

Locality : South China Sea. Trawled from South China Sea. South of the Dongsha Islands. 400-600 m.
Remark : A Marginellona gigas is an amazing species. For almost a century since the discovery, this species remained a major rarity. Most of us knew about its existence because figured by Weaver & du Pont in the Living Volutes of 1970, although under another name. The description in the Tiefsee expedition by von Martens looks strange as the shell came up into three pieces in the dredge: the spire, the siphonal canal and the lip, all separate. Still enough to see this was something strange and worth describing. Described as ?Marginella (Marginellona) gigas n.? Rehder redescribed the species based on a juvenile piece as Sigaluta pratasensis in 1967, after the Islands where the Marginellona is relatively common in very deep water. The rediscovery by trawlers from Taiwan and China came almost as a thunder on a blue sky: pieces from over 100 mm appeared on the market! And, when in fine+ to gem condition, it is one of the most fascinating shells on the planet: big: scaphelliform with the gloss of a cowry, the shape of a volute and the charms of a Marginella.
Size : 83.6 mm. mm 3.29 inch