Australian Fishing Photographs, Angling, Cooking & Species Information
Fishing, Angling, Fishing Tackle, Fishing Guides, Fly Fishing, Bass Fishing, Sportsfishing, Game Fishing, Deep Sea Fishing

Recreational Fishing Site

Directory for Fishing, Angling, Fishing Tackle, Fishing Guides, Fly Fishing, Bass Fishing, Sportsfishing, Game Fishing....
Angling, Boating, Fishing Info, Sailing, Diving, Boat Charters, Fishing Guides, Marinas etc.
CLICK HERE
 

Fish, Crustaceans & Cephalopods

Beche De Mer
(Sea Cucumber)

Also known as Melon Shell or Melo Shell.  Zidoninae spp.

AQIS Code:  BLS

Bailer or Baler shells are large marine molluscs (sea snails) and they can reach sizes over 40cm in length.  The shells of balers have attractive patterns. However, even more striking is the brown slug-like foot, which has intricate patterns of white lines.

They get their name from being used by many native people and fishermen around the world to bail (scoop) water out of boats and canoes. They are found in Australia from the Houtman Abrolhos Islands to South Australia and north around the Western Australian coast, across the Northern Territory coast to Queensland.

They are carnivorous and feed on other mulluscs such as scallops, tritons and turban shells. They are generally nocturnal (active at night) animals that hunt for their food on sandy bottoms. By day they usually bury themselves in the sand.

Bailer Shells have very beautiful markings and are often caught for their shells which are used as ornaments and also carved into jewellery and prized in shell collections. 

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.

.

Other Baler Shell Links:

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

Melon, Bailer Shell Information:

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.

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