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Page 6 THE FESTIVUS Vol. XXXIX: Supplement Though once completely barren, Clipperton now has large groves and isolated individual coco palms, presumably descendants of trees that were planted in the early 1900s by a Mexican garrison (Figure 12). Figure 12. Aerial view of largest coco palm stand on Clipperton showing 2005 French Expedition camp site. Photo: C. Fresser. Malacological History of Clipperton Discovered in 1527 by the Spanish captain Saavedra Cerén, Clipperton has been claimed at one time or another by the United States, France, México (González Avelar, 1992) and England. The island has been called L’île de Passion and several other names by mapmakers. The origin of Clipperton’s current name dates to 1705 when an English pirate, John Clipperton, went ashore. During the past century, the isolated, uninhabited coral atoll of Clipperton has been visited by several prominent expeditions. Here I mention those studies relating to the molluscan fauna, either in museum collections, published or in preparation. Sachet (1962c) indicated that the first mollusks reported from Clipperton were mentioned by John T. Arundel in 1897 in a San Francisco newspaper article. They were described as pearl oyster shells without specific names but most likely they were Pinctada mazatlanica (Hanley, 1856), which occurs at Clipperton (Plate 2, figures 6a,b). Sachet (1962b) also mentioned that a “group of shells” in the USNM were received in 1897 from a Mr. Arnheim, a ship chandler who obtained them from sailors. Possibly the first mollusks collected for scientific study were gathered by Washington Henry Ochsner, a member of the shore party on 10 August 1905 from the schooner Academy on a voyage of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) to the Islas Galápagos (Slevin, 1931). In the few hours on Clipperton, eleven species were taken by Ochsner. Hertlein (1937) reported on them and figured six species. Dall (1910) mentioned three species of Conus from Clipperton. The specimens are located in the Recent mollusk collection of the National Museum of Natural History, <strong>Smithsonian</strong> Institution (USNM) and are from the 1897 Arnheim Collection and the CAS voyage of 1905 (pers. comm., P. Greenhall, 2006). Bartsch and Rehder (1939) reported on 12 species occurring at Clipperton. Five were described as new and had been collected on and among the rocks by W. L. Schmitt (USNM) in May 1938 while on the “Presidential Cruise” aboard the U.S.S. Houston. The U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory “Shuttle Expedition” in May 1952 did only incidental scientific research, but it produced the first deep-water specimens from Clipperton. Hertlein and Emerson (1953) documented 31 previously recorded species, and added five records to the malacofauna including one new species. The new records were collected from the Expedition’s two dredge hauls from 183-367 m off Clipperton’s east slope. During the early 1950s, at the beginning of his career, William K. Emerson, now emeritus of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, took a special interest in the zoogeographic study of mollusks having Indo-Pacific faunal affinities and their migration to the tropical eastern Pacific. His first paper on the subject was co-authored with Hertlein when they were both working in the San Francisco Bay area (Hertlein & Emerson, 1953). Throughout Emerson’s distinguished career in malacology he continued to pursue answers to the questions of what, why and how mollusks came from the west across the great Pacific Ocean (Emerson, 1967, 1968, 1978, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1993; Zinsmeister & Emerson, 1979). According to Hertlein and Emerson (1957), on 12 December 1954 three members of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) “Acapulco Trench Expedition” landed on the atoll from the research vessel Spencer F. Baird. In only a few hours they managed to collect 14 species of mollusks, including two new records, from beach drift and the intertidal zone. They reported no living marine invertebrates in the lagoon. During the second and third International Geophysical Years, Scripps Institution of Oceanography carried out a number of research cruises. The first expedition landed and stayed 20-26 October 1956 followed by another eight-week expedition in August - September 1958. American scientists participating in the
Vol. XXXIX: Supplement THE FESTIVUS Page 7 1958 “Doldrums Expedition” aboard the research vessel Spencer F. Baird, focused mainly on sea and weather conditions. A number of biologists were left for two and a half weeks (7-26 August 1958) to study the flora and bird fauna of Clipperton. The year 1958 was a new era for scientific collecting because SCUBA was used for the first time at Clipperton. The maximum depth was 40 m and diving at all depths was seriously restricted by the necessity to use a shark cage for protection from the prolific shark population (Figure 13). Emerson (1993) recounted a harrowing tale from Carl L. Hubbs (SIO) (in litt. to Charles M. Breder, 14 March 1957) as follows: “The outer margin [of Clipperton] is so excessively full of sharks, the collectors are not very anxious to work there. The sharks were so numerous that they actually bit the oars of boats being rowed along the shore, and paid very little attention to shark repellent. In fact one of them came in and swallowed the bag of repellent that was used in a vain effort to get in collecting at a certain spot.” Figure 13. Silky shark off Clipperton, 1994. Photo: J. Black. Allison (1959), one of the “Doldrums Expedition” scientists, reported on the occurrence and habitat of five species of Conus found at the Island. Following that, Hertlein and Allison (1960a) listed 12 species of Cypraea that were primarily collected on the 1956 and 1958 Expeditions. A third contribution in the series by Hertlein and Allison (1960b) listed 34 species and included all other mollusk family representatives collected on the two Expeditions. A remarkable scientist on the “Doldrums Expedition” was Marie-Hélèn Sachet, a French botanist. Sachet was charged with making a comprehensive survey of life on the atoll and made significant contributions in studying the geology and the marine and terrestrial flora and fauna of Clipperton, including the most comprehensive list of mollusk species for that time (Sachet, 1960, 1962a-c, 1963). During the 19-day stay on the island, 58 pigs, which had been introduced at the end of the 19 th century, were eradicated. Their thought was to give the marine bird populations (Figure 14), land crabs (Gecarcinus planatus) (Figure 15), and other fauna a better chance of survival. Figure 14. Masked boobie pair with chick (Sula dactylatra) and persistent land crab, 2005. Photo: C. Fresser. Figure 15. Bright orange Gecarcinus planatus Stimpson, 1860, moving boobie egg to its lair, 2005. Photo: J.-M. Bompar. Eight years after its first visit, SIO’s R/V Spencer F. Baird, during the “Carrousel Expedition” of 1964, brought up mollusks during dredging operations around Clipperton. Hertlein & Allison (1966) reported on 35 species from the 92-meter dredge hauls, along with all other mollusks recognized in Clipperton collections that had not been previously inventoried. Unfortunately, the present repositories of the specimens are unknown. Still examining unidentified material collected on
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