Sri Lanka

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.