Murex
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Venus crested snail Murex pecten |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
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| Linnaeus , 1758 |
Murex is the name of agenus of snails from the family of spiny snails , which is represented in the Indo-Pacific .
features
The right-hand wound housings of the Murex species are broadly conical and have a bulbous body circumference. The siphon channel is straight and longer than the mouth and thread. The outer lip has a tooth-like protrusion while the inner lip is smooth. The housings, including the siphon channel, are usually covered with numerous long and thin spines along axially extending bulges (varices). The operculum is horny with the nucleus at the front edge.
A peculiarity in the anatomy of the males in all Murex species - unlike the Hercules club previously associated with this genus - is that the spermatic duct at the base of the penis has a muscular wall and is therefore capable of particularly powerful ejaculations when mating .
The females lay egg capsules, in which the developing embryos are supplied with nourishment eggs. The Veliger larvae go through a phase as plankton that usually only lasts a few days. In one and the same species, Murex trapa , a two-and-a-half-day plankton phase and once complete development in the egg capsule were observed.
Like other spiny snails, the Murex species feed primarily on shell-bearing molluscs .
Distribution and occurrence
The range of the snail species, which today belong to the genus Murex, includes the warm seas of the Indo-Pacific . Here the snails can be found especially in the intertidal zone and in the sublittoral on sand as well as between stones and corals.
History of the system
In classical Latin, Murex refers to the purple snails of the Mediterranean , from which the coveted purple was extracted in ancient times , but which also served as a source of food. In 1758, Linnaeus describes the genus as a snail with a one-piece spiral shell, which is roughened by parchment-like seams and whose mouth ends in a whole, straight or slightly ascending canal. In addition to numerous spiked snails, he also includes the conch horns in this genus .
Over time, the scope of the genre has been narrowed down more and more. Since the large spider's head ( Murex tribulus ) has been established as the type species, the purple snail Hercules' club ( Murex brandaris ) and the blunt prickly snail ( Murex trunculus ), referred to in classical Latin as Murex, no longer belong to this genus. Rather, it only includes species from the Indo-Pacific .
literature
- Didier Merle, Bernard Garrigues & Jean-Pierre Pointier: Fossil and Recent Muricidae of the World, Part Muricinae. 648 pp., 182 color plates, Hackenheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-939767-32-9 .
- GE Radwin, & A. D'Attilio: Murex shells of the world. An illustrated guide to the Muricidae. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford 1976, ISBN 978-0-8047-0897-5 , x + pp. 1-284 incl 192 figs. + 32 pls.
- Frank Riedel: Origin and evolution of the "higher" Caenogastropoda. Berliner Geoscientific Abhandlungen, Series E, Volume 32, Berlin 2000, 240 pages, ISBN 3-89582-077-6 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Winston F. Ponder , Emily H. Vokes: A Revision of the Indo-West Pacific Fossil and Recent Species of Murex SS and Haustellum (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Muricidae). Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 8, pp. 1-160.
- ^ Tsugio Shuto: Larval development and geographical distribution of the Indo-West Pacific Murex . Bulletin Of Marine Science, 33 (3): 536-544, 1983.
- ↑ Langenscheidt's Latin-German dictionary: entry murex, a) purple snail with a twisted prickly shell; (dcht.) the bowl as a conch; b) edible spiny snail. 7th edition 1982.
- ↑ Carolus Linnaeus : Systema Naturae. 10th ed., Lars Salvius: Stockholm 1758, p. 746: No. 290. Murex. Testa univalvis, spiralis, exasperata suturis membranaceis. Apertura desinens in canalem integrum rectum s. subadscendentem.
- ↑ Carolus Linnaeus : Systema Naturae. 10th ed., Lars Salvius: Stockholm 1758, p. 746. 447. Murex Tribulus. M. testa ovata spinis setaceis trifariis, cauda elongata subulata recta similiter spinosa. Habitat in O. Asiae. (Murex with an egg-shaped shell with bristle-like three-row spines, with an elongated awl tail, spiked in a similar way. Lives in the ocean of Asia.)
Web links
- World Marine Mollusca database: Murex Linnaeus, 1758 ( World Register of Marine Species )
- Fischhaus Zepkow: Family Muricidae - spiny snails
- Muricidae - Purpuras, murex and rock shells (identification key for the snails , English, on the FAO website ). From: JM Poutiers: Gastropods . In: Kent E. Carpenter, Volker H. Niem (eds.): FAO Species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 1: Seaweeds, corals, bivalves and gastropods. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1998. p. 553 ff.
- KS Tan: Species Checklist of the Muricidae in the South China Sea . The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology (Singapore) 2000. Supplement No. 8, pp. 495-512.