Seashell enthusiasts can now see the world’s most valuable and the world’s largest shells, including the Rumphius’ Slit Shell and the giant clams Tridacna gigas — in close detail — along with many other seashell species and shell specimens at an exhibition being hosted at a facility in southern Taiwan.
The Tsai-liao Fossil Museum in Greater Tainan last week launched an exhibition of seashells allowing visitors to view some rarely seen marine forms from more than 300 specimens lent by Taipei’s National Taiwan Museum (NTM).
The exhibition which runs until Sep. 23, also reveals many of seashells’ natural mysteries to the public — such as how they capture the sound of the ocean and how every shell ends up with its own exquisite and unique pattern.
Photo: Lin Meng-ting, Taipei Times
Aside from having a close-up opportunity to observe a multitude of seashells, visitors to the exhibition can also finger the crusty surfaces of a diverse range of sea creatures.
One of the exhibition’s greatest draws is a Rumphius’ Slit Shell, the most precious and rarely found kind of shell in the world, which is valued at about NT$380,000.
“Inhabiting deep waters, the Rumphius’ Slit Shell is the world’s most expensive seashell mainly because of its scarcity, with its shell resembling the shape of a round timepiece and exhibiting long crevices and flame-like patterns on the surface,” said Lai Ching-yang (賴景陽), a member of the NTM’s collections and preservation commission.
Lai added that in 1970 a Taiwanese fisherman dredged up a Rumphius’ Slit Shell off the country’s southeast coast, which was only the fourth one of its kind to have been found worldwide. However, the rare object was procured by an aquarium in Japan at the time, he said.
That makes the Rumphius’ Slit Shell, which is displayed and preserved in Taiwan, a fairly rare and precious marine object, Lai added.
Other focal points at the exhibition include a giant clam, Tridacna Gigas, the world’s largest shell species that can reach up to 1.4m, Lai said, along with a handicraft item made of more than 20,000 small seashells in the shape of the NTM.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff Writer
SPEEDING ELETRIC VEHICLES: Available without license requirements, the low-cost vehicles, especially if illicitly modified, can often reach a dangerous speed The government should crack down on illegal electric bicycles and scooters, the non-profit Consumers’ Foundation said on Friday, citing research on the potentially dangerous speed of the vehicles. Electric bicycles and lightweight electric scooters have gained popularity as they do not require registration and riders do not need licenses, the foundation said, adding that as many as 40 percent of them can reach speeds exceeding the legal limit of 25kph for non-licensed two-wheelers. Some consumers also purchased legal electric vehicles and modified them to reach higher speeds, it said. “If the government does not step up efforts to confiscate these
DIPLOMATIC MOVES: Beijing is reportedly pressing the state after reports of forming links with Taiwan, while the ministry is also planning to reopen its office in Guam soon A representative office is set to open in Somaliland at the end of this month, at the earliest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday amid reports that Beijing is sending a diplomatic delegation to the east African country. The ministry on July 1 announced that Taiwan and Somaliland would establish representative offices, following a report by the Somaliland Chronicle Web site. It said at the time that the two nations did not plan to establish formal ties. Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi has instructed close confidants to explore the possibility of “mutual recognition between Taiwan and Somaliland,” the Somaliland Chronicle reported
A Belgian man who tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan last week is likely to have contracted the disease in Taipei in late June, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday reported that the man, who is in his 20s, came to Taiwan for work on May 3 and tested positive on Wednesday last week as he was about to depart. The man in March reported loss of taste and smell, the center said, adding that he worked in Changhua County, but visited Taipei several times,
NEW CASE REPORTED: A man who returned from South Africa on a flight with the nation’s 460th and 461st cases has now tested positive for the disease The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that there is no need to test all arrivals to the nation for COVID-19, a policy the Executive Yuan supports. The center reported one new imported case, bringing the nation’s tally of confirmed cases to 477. The new case is a Taiwanese man in his 60s who on July 25 returned from South Africa, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the CECC’s spokesman. The man had returned to Taiwan on the same flight as cases Nos. 460 and 461, reported on July 27, Chuang said. On July 24,
RSS