Spiny snails

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Muricidae
Chicoreus palmarosae

Chicoreus palmarosae

Systematics
Superordinate : Caenogastropoda
Order : Sorbeoconcha
Subordination : Hypsogastropoda
Partial order : Neogastropoda
Superfamily : Muricoidea
Family : Muricidae
Scientific name
Muricidae
Rafinesque , 1815
Females of Pteropurpura trialata lay egg capsules from

The spiny snails (Muricidae) are a family of very often bizarrely prickly, almost exclusively marine snails . Almost all members of the family are predatory snails - apart from the coral snails , which are now also counted as parasites on cnidarians . Of the approximately 16,000 recent Neogastropoda, about 10% or 1,600 species belong to the Muricidae family. Another 1,200 species are known to be fossilized .

features

The cases are right-hand wound and show a very wide range of case shapes. It ranges from ovoid to highly trochospiral. Some species show a bizarre thorn with a long siphon channel . The radula (rasping tongue) is usually long and shows three elements per transverse row. Many species have an accessory bore organ (ABO) on foot, by means of which they dissolve lime and so by simultaneously rasping radula with the holes in shells of clams , snails or barnacles can drill.

The ontogenetic development of some of the species takes place via pelagic plankton-eating Veliger larvae. This is the case with representatives of the subfamilies Rapaninae (e.g. Concholepas concholepas ) and Ergalataxinae . In other species, development takes place via the eggs. Most eggs stop developing very early; these are then eaten by the few developing embryos. Other strategies also apply (e.g. storing large quantities of egg white). In species with yolk-rich eggs or with egg eggs, development up to metamorphosis usually takes place in the egg capsules, so that finished snails hatch from these. This is the case, for example, with the well-known purple snails such as Bolinus brandaris , Hexaplex trunculus and also the northern purple snail Nucella lapillus . A transition can be seen in various species of the genus Murex (e.g. Murex tribulus and Murex pecten ), where there are nutritional eggs and the pelagic phase of the Veliger only lasts a few days. In Murex trapa , both developmental paths have been observed: once a two and a half day plankton phase and once complete development in the egg capsule.

Way of life, occurrence and distribution

Most species live in shallower water and are found in all seas. However, the main distribution center is clearly in the tropical and subtropical waters. Only a few species also live in the deep sea (up to about 3500 m). A few species also go into brackish water, but not into fresh water. They live on hard and soft substrates. Most species are predatory on a wide range of prey ( molluscs , tunicates , crustaceans , poly-bristles ). Among these species, the ability to drill is widespread. Other species tend to graze and live on sponges, corals and possibly also algae. Some species specialize in coral polyps and can cause significant damage to tropical coral reefs.

Some types

In the North Sea and the Baltic Sea , the spiny snails are represented by the northern purple snail ( Nucella lapillus ). In the Mediterranean common species are the Herkuleskeule ( Bolinus brandaris ) and Obtuse murex ( Hexaplex trunculus ), both traditionally of man as purple snails are used. In the north-east Atlantic you can also find the ribbed purple snail ( Ocenebra erinacea ), which, like some of its relatives, is also called oyster borer due to its food preferences . On the African Atlantic coast, the horned prickly snail ( Bolinus cornutus ) occurs, which is similar to the Hercules club, but is significantly larger. There is a particularly large variety of species in the Indo-Pacific , where the largest species of the family, the giant spiny snail ( Chicoreus ramosus ) is also common. Other species include the snipe head ( haustellum haustellum ), which only has knots instead of spines, as well as some species with a strongly developed spiked dress, including the great spider's head ( Murex tribulus ), the Venus crested snail ( Murex pecten ), the scorpion snail ( Homalocantha scorpio ) and Chicoreus palmarosae . On the South American Pacific coast you can find, among others, the species Concholepas concholepas , whose populations have declined sharply due to fishing, in the Caribbean Sea the short-thorn spiny snail ( Chicoreus brevifrons ) and the apple spiny snail ( Phyllonotus pomum ), which with their powerful radula teeth also pierce thick mussels . By the people with the oyster farms in the North Sea and other parts of the world displaced species are especially living on the North American Atlantic coast urosalpinx cinerea and from the seas of East Asia dating Rapana Venosa .

Systematics

Different housings

The family Muricidae is divided into ten subfamilies by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):

literature

  • Philippe Bouchet & Jean-Pierre Rocroi: Part 2. Working classification of the Gastropoda . Malacologia, 47: 239-283, Ann Arbor 2005, ISSN  0076-2997 .
  • 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 .
  • Victor Millard: Classification of the Mollusca. A Classification of World Wide Mollusca . Rhine Road, South Africa 1997, ISBN 0-620-21261-6 .
  • Winston Ponder & David Lindberg: Towards a phylogeny of gastropod molluscs; an analysis using morphological characters . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 119: 83-265, London 1997, ISSN  0024-4082 .
  • 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

  1. ↑ Cleveland P. Hickman, Larry S. Robert, Allan Larson, Helen l'Anson, David J. Eisenhour: Zoologie . Translated from the English by Thomas Lazar. German adaptation by Wolf-Michael Weber. Pearson Germany, Munich 2008. 1347 pages. P. 510. Here also the German translation of the English expression ABO (accessory boring organ).
  2. ↑ Melbourne R. Carriker (1981): Shell penetration and feeding by naticacean and muricacean predatory gastropods: a synthesis (PDF; 12.5 MB) . Malacologia 20 (2), pp. 403-422.
  3. ↑ Tsugio Shuto (1983): Larval development and geographical distribution of the Indo-West Pacific Murex . Bulletin Of Marine Science, 33 (3): 536-544, 1983

Web links

Commons : Muricidae  - Collection of images, videos and audio files