Hedgehog snail
| Hedgehog snail | ||||||||||||
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Enclosure of Casmaria erinaceus |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Casmaria erinaceus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The hedgehog helmet snail ( Casmaria erinaceus ) is a snail from the family of helmet snails (genus Casmaria ), which is widespread in the Indo-Pacific .
features
The rather small, light, shiny, elongated egg-shaped snail shell of Casmaria erinaceus has a thread with smooth, moderately rounded whorls with a weak channel. The body can be smooth or have strong knots at the shoulder. The wide case mouth has a thickened outer lip with 4 to 5 pointed teeth at the front end of its edge towards the siphon channel, while the rest of the outer lip is imperforate. The smooth spindle has a thick spindle shield with fine lines and covers the navel. The surface of the case is dark yellow to light brown, the inside of the case mouth is brown. The spindle shield is white with a brown spot behind it. The house reaches around 5 to 6.3 cm in length in adult snails, sometimes up to 7.5 cm in length.
distribution and habitat
Casmaria erinaceus is distributed in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific from the Mascarene Islands , Madagascar , Aldabra and Mauritius to Melanesia and Micronesia .
The snail lives on sandy subsoil on coral reefs in both lagoons and the open ocean. It is exclusively nocturnal and buried in the sand during the day.
Life cycle
Like other helmet snails, Casmaria erinaceus is segregated. The male mates with the female with his penis . The female lays the eggs in clusters of numerous horny egg capsules, each containing several hundred eggs. Most of the eggs develop into embryos. The pelagic phase of the Veliger larvae from hatching from the egg capsule to metamorphosis into the finished snail takes about two months.
food
Like other helmet snails, Casmaria erinaceus lives on sea urchins .
literature
- Marc Hughes: Hawaiian Gastropod Echinovores: The Hunting and Feeding Techniques of Casmaria erinaceus, Charonia tritonis, and Tonna perdix (PDF; 1.3 MB). Hohonu - A Journal of Academic Writing, Volume 1, Number 1, Hilo / Hawaiʻi 2003, pp. 7-8.
Web links
- Casmaria flammea (Linnaeus, 1758) Flame Helmet. Jaxshells.com. Casmaria flammea (Linnaeus, 1758) Flame Helmet Feeding On Sea Urchin. Photographed by Linda Ianniello while SCUBA diving in Lake Worth Lagoon near Peanut Island, Palm Beach Inlet, Palm Beach Co., Florida 8/18/2012 | Underwater photograph copyright 2012 by Linda Ianniello.
- Fischhaus Zepkow: Family Cassidae - Helmet snails
- Underwater Kwajalein: Casmaria erinacea (sic) (Linnaeus, 1758)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Foster James Springsteen, Fely Moreno Leobrera, Carlos Baldon Leobrera: Shells of the Philippines. Carfel Seashell Museum, 1986. p. 102.
- ↑ a b Underwater Kwajalein: Casmaria erinacea (sic) (Linnaeus, 1758). January 10, 2011; accessed on April 22, 2018.
- ^ E. Alison Kay: Hawaiian Marine Shells. Bishop Museum Press, 1979. p. 211.