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Sri Lanka
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To escape the '99 Christmas-craze and a possible
invasion of Milennium Bugs my friend Jana and I decided to revisit
Sri Lanka. In spring 1998 we were there last, and inbetween this
time the information was given that the coral reefs had bleached.
With mixed feelings we booked a flight and packed our things.
One day before our departure, on the 18th of December, a bomb
exploded in Colombo, killing twenty people and injuring the Lankan
President Chandrika Kumaratunga. This time we were planning to
explore the southeast of the Island so we were not quite sure
what would happen.

After endless delays of the
flight we finally reached Colombo on the 20th. Our station was
the Confifi Beach Hotel in Beruwala,
a tourist-center 50 Kms south of Colombo. We chose to stay in
this hotel because it faces a very nice stretch
of beach and adjacent coral reef. From there we planned our
tours to the south.
The coastline
of southern Sri Lanka has wide sandy beaches
with rather heavy surf. The fringing reefs are rocks and often
quite remote. Only few places are suitable for diving or snorkeling.
These are situated on the villages of Beruwala
(the photo shows the Beruwala lighthouse), Hikkaduwa
and Unawatuna, and also
the town Galle. The reports about coral
bleaching proved correct as far as fragile Acroporidae, Acropora
and Porites- species is concerned. These
are dead and covered with a thick
layer of green algae (coral head on
right of the photo). Approximately 90% is affected. The Faviidae-
species of Platygyra, Favites
and Favia were in relatively good shape,
perhaps 30-40% damage was visible. The Scleractinian Echinopora
were more severaly damaged.
During the months of
November and December, rainfalls let the rivers Bentota
and Kosgoda introduce large amounts of
mud, so the visibility under water is limited. Therefore, excuse
the often bad quality of the underwater photos... Here
is the gallery.
Shells of high collector's
quality are very scarce in this part of Sri Lanka. This is mainly
due to the inaccessibility of good specimens from the rough coastline.
In shallow water, cowries such as Erosaria
ocellata, E. caputserpentis,
E. moneta, Lyncina lynx, M. arabica asiatica
(2nd image) and Erronea
listeri(2nd image) are fairly common.
In areas with Montipora corals I have
found Blasicrura interrupta in narrow
crevices, in depths of 1-2 m. Also Bistolida hirundo hirundo
is not rare in this habitat. Usually, Jana and me don't take any
living things from the reefs, so all the animals shown in the
photos were put back into their habitat.
Other cowry-species are
found only sporadically, and some are available only from beached
samples. These are often in near gem quality, with parts of the
animal still inside. The heavy surf during most of the year spills
these shells out of their hiding places in the fringing
reef. A remarkable fact about this part of Sri Lanka is the
near absence of Conus-species. Only rarely one might encounter
Co. musicus or Co. terebra.

Driving south of Beruwala,
the first interesting spot is the sea-turtle
hatchery of Kosgoda. Here, the eggs of sea-turtles are brought
to hatch and the young turtles are being released. The concept
of the program is to buy the eggs of turtles that local fishermen
collect from nests along the southwestern coast. In the past eight
years, 1.05 million young turtles of six different species were
released. In many places of Sri Lanka, sea-turtles can be observed
in quantity again. We believe that the Kosgoda turtle hatchery
is a worthwhile project to protect sea-turtles. For more information,
contact:
Victor Hasselblad Turtle Hatchery, Mr. Chandrisi Arbrew, 10, Dambulla
Road, Kurunegala, Sri Lanka

The beach of Kosgoda
is sandy, without a fringing Reef. The visibility is zero, but
along the shore, but it is said that interesting shells may wash
up at certain times of the year. But most commonly, one encounters
shells that are inhabited by land dwelling hermit
crabs.
The next station along
the southwestern route is the village of Hikkaduwa,
a noisy and dirty tourist village, the Sri Lankan metropole for
light and heavy drugs and a pest called "glass bottom boats".
I have no idea what is so exciting about driving over sand and
rocks with a glass bottom, the effect is only that snorkeling
in Hikkaduwa is a righ risk to health and life....
Apart from a few rather old Strombus klineorum, some Pleuroploca
persica and a handful of freshly collected interrupta there was
very little exciting this year.
After another thirty
minutes drive on good but very busy roads
one reaches the busy town of Galle. The old Dutch
Fort is a well known Tourist attraction. To me, the most exciting
thing about Galle is the dried
skull of a goat with two heads. This animal
was born some twenty years ago in the area of Galle. It is well
visible that the goat had two faces, perfectly
symmetrical, with four eyes and two mouths.
The forebrain was probably split, while the hindbrain was singular.
The skull belongs to a well known dealer in antique Jewellery,
Mr. A.A.D.K. de Silva, 41A Colombo Road, Galle. He is a very friendly
old man very willing to show his treasure to anyone intersted.
Incidentally, he is the best source for hand made silver chains.
The Fort of Galle faces
an interesting strip of beach and rocky shore with an extensive
reef. Here we observed a few lynx and ocellata under the lose
rubble.
One the way to Weligama,
the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka, there is a village called Unawatuna,
with a lagoon and a flat reef. The coastline from Weligama eastward
is sandy. In this region, the local people comb the beaches for
shells. Occasionally, amongst their beached
findings one may spot a good shell.

Jana and me spent hours
visiting very friendly, very poor Singhalese in their huts along
the road from Weligama to Tangalla, always in search for shells.
The results were scarce but interesting.
The south coast of Sri
Lanka was a "white spot" on the map of Cowry-knowledge,
and in fact, many surprises have turned up.
After a long drive on
a busy, often rought road one bypasses rice-fields
and smaller plantations, several smaller villages and rivers.
Finally reaching Tangalla, one has a fantastic overview to the
famous Tangalla Bay in which the colourful
Lyria cloveriana lives. It is easiest found at night, crawling
on sand amongst rocks, in 3 to 6 m depth. There are a few
other populations apart from the Tangalla one. A dwarf form is
found near Dikwella and a broader form is from the Sandflats of
Hambantota east of Tangalla. This form is similar to the northeastern
variation cloveriana gabryae Poppe.
On the shores of Sri
Lanka, one commonly encounters the striped Asian squirrel
(Paraxerus sp.) and the Ceylon Monitor Lizard
(Waranus niloticus ceylanensis). There
is a variety of landsnails, the most popular of which is the endemic
Acavus haematostoma. At night, the air
is full of blinking beetles.

The first conchological
surprise for us was the discovery of Trivia rubinicolor Gaskoin,
a rare and sought after species with a very limited distribution
in Sri Lanka, ranging from just east of Galle to the Tangalla
area. It lives in fairly shallow water, judging from the fine
conditon of some specimens we found. Still more exciting is the
amount of Cowries. Here is a list of the species we could gather
from the local people. Introduction of shells from other places
is most unlikely, therefore the list
should well reflect the Cypraeid fauna of southern Sri Lanka.