ISBN 9783948603045, published in 2020 by ConchBooks, Harkenheim, Germany, casebound hardcover, 18.25 by 27 cm., or about 7.25 by 10.5 inches, 48 pages, brief introduction, fully illustrated with color photos, mostly fully page size showing specimen shells, some live specimens, shell habitats and photos of Rolas Island, its' terrain and its' inhabitants
This is a nice book that enables us to see the mollusks found at this small Eastern Atlantic Island that lies off the southern tip of Sao Tome
Island, off Gabon. It lies on the equator. It is a lush island and had only 76 residents in the 2012 census. The authors spent 12 days on the island collecting and photographing the shells that they found. They collected from the shoreline to a depth of 30 meters. One hundred and ten species of bivalves and gastropods were found, among them, a new Cerethium and several other shells that are under study. I very much applaud the fact that the authors chose to collect mainly dead specimen shells for this book. The shells are in choice condition and they were collected in an ecologically sound manner. There is little text but what there is has some interesting facts about some of the shells. I enjoyed seeing the photographs of the island above and below water. They are exceptionally well done and offers us a view of a place that I am almost sure never to see in person.
