Sea Shells of Southern Africa

Sea Shells of Southern Africa by Richard Kilburn & Elizabeth Rippey 1982, Macmillan South Africa, cloth hardcover with printed jacket, 249pages about 9 by 11¾ inches, (23 by 30cm), contains 45 full page plates (color drawings) as well as over 200 text figures This is an excellent work that covers the more common and some of the rare shells that are found in the waters off South Africa. The unique geography of South Africa at the point where the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean merge has produced a very special environment in which mollusks very different from any where else in the world have evolved. The authors estimate that some 3000 species of marine shells exist in these waters and that about 20% of these species are unique to S. Africa.