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Beche De Mer
(Sea Cucumber - Trepang)

Commercial Fishing for Melon, Baler or Bailer Shells:

 

Scientific Name	Melo amphora (northern Baler) Melo miltonis (southern baler)
Location	in Australia from the Houtman Abrolhos Islands to South Australia and north around the Western Australian coast, across the Northern Territory coast to Queensland
Size	to 40 cm in length

Species in the genus Melo include:

Melo aethiopica Linnaeus, 1758) Crowned baler
Melo amphora, (Lightfoot, 1786) Giant baler
Melo diadema
Melo broderipii (Griffith, E. & E. Pidgeon, 1834)
Melo georginae (Griffith, E. & E. Pidgeon, 1834)
Melo melo (Lightfoot, 1786) Indian volute
Melo miltonis (Griffith, E. & E. Pidgeon, 1834) Milton's melon or Southern bailer
Melo nautica (Lamarck, 1822)
Melo umbilicatus (Broderip in Sowerby, 1826) Heavy baler or umbilicate melon

Commercial Fishing for Bailer Shells:

Shells are generally collected by hand or by using hand-operated shell dredges.

The marine snail, or Bailer Shell, produces the melo pearl in response to irritation, but without nacre. The animal is used for food and the shells are sold for a variety of uses. Boiling ruins the pearls, but since their prices are well known to most fishermen, the animal is searched carefully.

The Queensland Marine Specimen Shell Collection Fishery (MSSCF) harvests from a broad range of animals from the phylum Mollusca. These are collected by commercial and recreational fishers for the purpose of display, collection, classification, research or sale (domestically and internationally).

Shells are also collected by Indigenous fishers for food, artwork and tools. The fishery area comprises all of Queensland waters within the boundary of the Offshore Constitutional Settlement.

Specimen shell molluscs may be alive or dead at the time of collection. Other commercial fisheries (e.g. the East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery) cannot retain specimen shells.

Baler Shell | Melon Shell Pearl information

Melos sometimes produce large yellow to orange coloured pearls.

Non-nacreous melo pearls are produced by melo volutes, which are found along coastal areas of Myanmar as well as Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Occurring in a range of colors, the most prized is the intense orange hue commonly found in a ripe papaya. These pearls exhibit a silky flame-like structure and a porcellaneous luster that make them very attractive

For companies and contacts of buyers and sellers of Bailer Shells, Bailer Shells and Melon Shells see:

Exporters of Shells
Importers of Shells
Processors of Shells
Wholesale Suppliers of Shells
Seafood Agents for Shells

Exporters of Babylonia
Importers of Babylonia
Processors of Babylonia
Wholesale Suppliers of Babylonia
Seafood Agents for Babylonia

More Information on Baler Shells & Melo Shells

Palagems Full details about Melo Pearls