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I
REGULARY PUBLISH ARTICLES IN THE XENOPHORA all articles
can fe found there:
My name is David Touitou. I was
born in 1975 in the city of Toulon (South of France). I studied
for 7 years in Marseille City (South of France) at the Medical University
and became a Pharmacy Doctor in 2000.
Since my childhood, I always collected stuff (stamps, coins, shells,
rocks...). I had the chance to go "often" with my parents
to one of the last preserved paradise on earth : The Seychelles
Islands.
There I always searched along the
granite rocks in shallow water in order to find freshly dead shells.
The only shells I found that way were the very common snake-head
cowries (Cypraea caputserpentis) and sometimes a common histrio
(Cypraea histrio).
In 1997, I found while snorkeling in 3 meters of water, a GEM freshly
dead amazing cowrie... It was green colored and had many very nice
light spots. I was really astonished by the beauty of that shell.
Only to findout it was just my first eroded cowrie (Cypraea erosa).
This find launched me in the shell collecting exciting hobby !!
We can now say that I really started shell collecting in 1997, because
after I came back to France, I tried to meet other collectors and
I met Mr Roger Rault with whom we launched this website in the late
1998. Mr Rault taught me so much, he was my mentor in this wonderful
passion. Unfortunately Mr Rault died in 2003 and we all lost a great
collector.
I started then to collect
Cowries. I collected some in the Seychelles and try to build a
worldwide collection like many of us by buying shells from dealers
and collectors. In 2001, I settled in Martinique Island for 18
months and started to collect Cone Shells as cowries were not
so prevelent there (5 species only)... And Cone Shells really
got me !! I became a Cone Shell collector since this stay. I,
of course, still collect cowries, but my favourite family remains
Conidae.
I started also at that time
to change my way of collecting. I abandonned the worldwide collection
and stopped all shell purchases. I prefer to collect shells by
myself and build a self-collected collection from the countries
I would travel too.
After these 18 months
in the Caribbean, I moved to Pacific, in French Polynesia in 2002.
I will stay there on Moorea from 2002 to 2006. I wil mainly collect
Cone shells there and managed to collect shells in New Caledonia
too. I moved back to France in august 2006 with family.
Looking
for snails at Fakarava Atoll 2004
Diving
in Martinique 2001
Snorkeling
with Serge Rolland on the East coast of New Caledonia 2003
