Spotted helix

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Spotted helix
Housing of Oxymeris maculata

Housing of Oxymeris maculata

Systematics
Subordination : Hypsogastropoda
Partial order : New snails (Neogastropoda)
Superfamily : Conoidea
Family : Screw snails (Terebridae)
Genre : Oxymeris
Type : Spotted helix
Scientific name
Oxymeris maculata
( Linnaeus , 1758)
Housing of Oxymeris maculata

The spotted screw snail ( Oxymeris maculata , common synonyms : Terebra maculata , Acus maculatus ) is a snail belonging to the family of screw snails (genus Oxymeris ) that is common in the western Pacific Ocean . It eats poly-bristle and acorn worms , which - unlike most Conoidea - it overwhelms without poison.

features

Oxymeris maculata carries a large, thick and heavy, comparatively short and wide snail shell , which in adult snails reaches up to 27.5 cm, but usually around 16 cm in length. The early whorls of the thread have numerous small, axially extending cords, while the later whorls are smooth. The outline of the thread is almost straight. The large case mouth, which takes up about a third of the entire length of the case, has an almost square outline and an inner lip angled in the middle. The thickening of the spindle has axial stripes and a sharp-edged spiral rib on its rear edge. The brownish operculum is egg-shaped. The outer surface of the bowl is cream colored with two unequal spiral rows of axially elongated dark brown spots on each whisker. The front half of the body is marked with spiral rows of square, orange-yellow spots. The inside of the case mouth is cream colored, with the outer color pattern often showing through. The edge of the spindle is white.

distribution and habitat

Oxymeris maculata is distributed in the Indo-Pacific from the coast of East Africa ( Tanzania ) and Madagascar , the Red Sea via Aldabra , Chagos , Mauritius and the Mascarene Mountains to eastern Polynesia , Japan and Hawaii , south to Australia ( Queensland ) and is also found in the Socorro Islands , Cocos Islands and the Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico . It lives on sandy subsoil from the deeper areas of the intertidal zone to a depth of about 210 m on subsoil with sand. The snail leaves a characteristic, wide trail of slime on the substrate.

Development cycle

Like all worms, Oxymeris maculata is sexually separate, and the male mates with the female with his penis . The Veliger larvae swim free before they sink and metamorphose into crawling snails .

nutrition

Oxymeris maculata has no poisonous apparatus and therefore swallows still living prey, which it sucks in with its pseudoproboscis. It eats sand-dwelling polychaete (Polychaeta) family Capitellidae and acorn worms . The Capitellide Dasybranchus caducus has been detected as prey on the coast of Guam .

Importance to humans

Oxymeris maculata is collected in many areas for its meat and shell, which is used as a tool in some areas of the South Pacific.

literature

  • R. Venkitesan, AK Mukherjee (2012): Contribution to the knowledge on Indian marine molluscs: Family Terebridae. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 111 (3), pp. 49-77.
  • George Washington Tryon: Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species , vol. VII; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 1885. T [erebra] maculata Linn., P. 9.
  • Jerry G. Walls: Cone Shells: A Synopsis of the Living Terebridae TFH Publications, Neptune (New Jersey) 1979. pp. 86-88.

Web links

Commons : Spotted helix ( Oxymeris maculata )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baldomero M. Olivera, Alexander Fedosov, Julita S. Imperial, Yuri Kantor: Physiology of Envenomation by Conoidean Gastropods. In: Saber Saleuddin, Spencer Mukai: Physiology of Molluscs: A Collection of Selected Reviews, Two-Volume Set: Volume 1. Apple Academic Press, CRC Press, Boca Raton 2017. pp. 153–188, here 180.
  2. ↑ John D. Taylor (1986): Diets of sand-living predatory gastropods at Piti Bay, Guam. Asian Marine Biology 3, pp. 47-58.