MALACOTECA Malacoteca of Species from the Tropical Ocean of Peru Authors: Manuel Gorriti Manchego y Víctor E. Falcón Huayta Introduction Gathering ambit Species collected Importance for precolonial Andean societies Acknowledgements Due to the higher temperature of the waters of the Equatorial Tropical Current (20 - 26 °C), to the degree of salinity and oxygenation, and other oceanographic factors, the malacological species of this zone present   greater diversity and beauty than those south of the Illescas massif, the point at which one encounters the Peruvian Current of cold waters (16 - 18° C), and they go toward the west. Within the collection produced by gathering the shells more than a hundred (100) species of mollusks have been identified. Fig. 2: Strombus peruvianus. Collection of the malacoteca of the MNAAHP.