Pecten Collection - Hugh Morrison by Jose Coltro

In June 2005, I had the opportunity to visit Hugh Morrison in Perth, Western Australia. Besides being one of Australia's most respected shell dealers, Hugh is an enthusiastic specialist in the family Pectinidae, and his collection is probably among the most complete in the world.

He keeps his entire Pectinidae collection in sturdy wooden cabinets, with each drawer protected by a glass cover. Hugh is constantly searching for new species, unusual color forms, exceptional specimens, and remarkable size variations.

Perhaps the highlight of his collection is a huge, flawless specimen of Annachlamys iredalei (Powell, 1958). However, it also includes other outstanding rarities, such as Oppenheimopecten galapagensis (Gray, 1959) and an extraordinary orange specimen of Nodipecten magnificus (Sowerby, 1835), among many other beautiful scallops.

His collection of Western Australian Pectinidae is complete, and he had even discovered a new species that, at the time of my visit, was expected to be described shortly.