yaw YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 249 February 1979 Page 7 
ACTEON ELOISAE Abbott, 1973 
Robert Janowsky 
4 not atypical reaction from anyone seeing th i 
first time is, "Is it real?" Precisely at a4 rea. tbo 
when I saw a specimen of this at the time undescribed opisthobranch 
in 1971. I remember that Bill Old brought a specimen into a meet- 
ing of the New York Shell Club and I determined to some day have a 
specimen of my own. 
“Yost marine shell collectors pay little attention to the opistho- 
branchs, a somewhat more highly evolved subclass of gastropods 
that includes the order Tectibranchia. Many members of this order 
have internal shells but always highly popular with collectors are 
the large and often very colorful members of the families Bullidae 
and Hydatinidae. The beautiful and familiar Hydatina albocincta 
Hoeven, Amplustrum amplustre Linne’, and Bulline nobilis Habe are 
always favorites, but even the fragile beauty of these species can 
not compare with the very strikingly beautiful Acteon eloisae. 
Unlike the species Tisted above, 
whose shells are all quite thin, al- 
most transparent, Acteon eloisae has 
a thick shell. Acteonids diftrer from 
most other tectibranchs in that an 
operculum is to be found in members 
of this family; that of A. eloisae is 
described as thin, chitinous, trans- 
lucent amber. 
The most striking features of this 
species are its coloration and pattern. 
The overall color ig white, ornamented 
with three rows of irregularly shaped 
rose-colored blotches on the body 
whorl, with the blotches outlined in 
black. ‘The shell is spirally and 
finely grooved. Columella and aper- 
ture are white. The size of the il- 
lustrated specimen is 43mm in height 
and 20mm at its maximum width. 
The first 8 specimens known were ob- 
tained by Dr. Donald Bosch in 1970 at 
Al Masirah Island, Oman, to date the 
only recorded locality. The species 
is named in honor of his wife, Bloise 
Bosch. The original description by 
Dr. Re Tucker Abbott appeared in the 
NAUTILUS 87 (4) 91,92 and is highly 

Acteon eloisae Abbott recommended reading for further infor- 
33mm specimen in the mation. The type specimen and several 
Collection of Robert paratypes are deposited in the Delaware 
and Dorothy Janowsky Museum of Natural History. The species 
remains today as one of the most beau- 
Photograph by tiful and sought after shells -- a 
Robert Janowsky rarity in most collections around the 
world. 
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