An Yilan County fisherman who caught a Rumphius’ slit shell, a rare deep-water sea snail, said that he released it back into the wild on Tuesday in accordance with the wishes of a man who purchased it for NT$120,000.
After finding the conical, 20cm-by-15cm mollusk while trawling near Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島) on Saturday last week, Lin Tien-ming (林天明), a resident of Toucheng Township (頭城), listed the catch for sale online.
As news of the catch spread, National Taiwan Museum wrote on social media that such rare sea snails should be “returned to nature” if caught and should not be treated as collector’s items.
Photo courtesy of Lin Tien-ming
Lin rejected the suggestion, citing the shell’s market value and the cost of gasoline used on a six-to-seven-hour trip to sea.
“If I caught a green sea turtle or another protected species, I would let it go, but a Rumphius’ slit shell is not a protected species — so there is no way” I would throw it back, he said this week.
As he waited for offers, Lin said that he and his wife had stayed up all night monitoring the sea snail, making frequent trips to a convenience store for ice to keep the temperature of the water it was in at the recommended 16°C to 17°C.
Over two days, he said that they received offers of NT$60,000, NT$80,000, NT$100,000, NT$116,000, NT$120,000 and NT$160,000.
However, he sold it for NT$120,000 to a Taipei resident surnamed Liu (劉), who offered to buy it on condition that it be released back into the wild.
To fulfill the terms of the deal, Lin set out from Dasi Fishing Harbor (大溪漁港) at 2:10am on Tuesday, he said.
At about 4am, he used his phone to record as a crewmate removed the sea snail from a bucket, displayed it for the camera and released it into the sea near Turtle Island.
The Rumphius’ slit shell is the largest species in the Pleurotomariidae family of slit snails, which are named for the distinctive long slit running halfway along their shells.
The species is found in waters between Japan and the Philippines at depths of 100m to 400m. Their shells are sought after by collectors due to their rareness, size and beauty.
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