Caribbean vase snail

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Caribbean vase snail
Casing of Vasum muricatum, without periostracum, from Los Roques, Venezuela

Casing of Vasum muricatum , without periostracum , from Los Roques , Venezuela

Systematics
Subordination : Hypsogastropoda
Partial order : New snails (Neogastropoda)
Superfamily : Muricoidea
Family : Turbinellidae
Genre : Vasum
Type : Caribbean vase snail
Scientific name
Vasum muricatum
( Born , 1778)

The Caribbean vases screw ( Vasum muricatum ) is a predatory living snail from the family of turbinellidae (genus Vasum ), in the Caribbean is widespread. It feeds mainly on polychaetes .

features

The large, thick and heavy snail shell of Vasum muricatum has an elongated, conical to vase-like shape and reaches a length of about 5 to 10, sometimes up to 15 cm in adult snails. The body is wide and angled. The whorls have about 9 to 10 at the shoulder and further blunt spines or knots at the base. The spindle has 5 powerful folds, the first and third of which are the largest. The surface of the shell is cream-colored with a black to dark brown periostracum , the inside of the case mouth is mostly white and often with purple spots.

The shell is often populated by mussels and corals without noticeably affecting the snail. The snail can extend its proboscis up to twice the length of its shell , so that it can also reach prey animals living deep in the sediment.

distribution

Vasum muricatum is distributed in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean from the east coast of Florida to Venezuela , in front of Mexico from Veracruz to Yucatán . The snails are often found in pairs.

The locations in Venezuela include Falcon, Nueva Esparta and Dependencias Federales.

habitat

Vasum muricatum lives in shallow waters to a depth of about 20 m on sandy substrates, but also on mud, rubble and rocks.

food

Vasum muricatum eats polychaetes , sipuncula , ribbon worms and clams . With its long trunk, the snail also preyes on tube worms that have retreated deep into the ground.

Life cycle

Like other new snails, Vasum muricatum is of separate sexes. The male mates with the female with his penis . The female then attaches a clutch of about 8 to 13 egg capsules to a stone in an alternating row of two, which appear sickle-shaped from above and crescent-shaped from the side. The loophole is at the top of the concave side of the capsule. A capsule is about 30 mm long, 12 mm high, 4 mm wide in the middle and contains, in addition to a gelatinous nutrient fluid, about 118 to 175 eggs, all of which develop into juvenile snails within the capsule within a period of more than a month.

Web links

Commons : Caribbean vase snail ( Vasum muricatum )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ R. Tucker Abbott : American Seashells. D. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York 1974. p. 663.
  2. ^ A b A. García-Cubas, M. Reguero: Catálogo ilustrado de moluscos gasterópodos del Golfo de México y Mar Caribe. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 2004.
  3. ↑ a b c d Klaus Bandel (1976): Morphology of the clutch and ecological observations on Buccinaceae (Gastropoda) from the southern Caribbean Sea. Bonn zoological contributions 27, pp. 98-133, here pp. 104f., 124f.
  4. ↑ G. Rosenberg, F. Moretzsohn, EF García: Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf of Mexico - Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station (Texas) 2009, pp. 579-699.
  5. ↑ Ricardo S. Bitter, Rafael Martínez E (2001): Inventario de los moluscos marinos en las costas del estado Falcón, Venezuela. Acta Biologica Venezuelica, 21 (1), pp. 21-41.
  6. ↑ O. Macsotay (1982): Intervalos batimetabólicos y batimétricos de algunos moluscos bentónicos marinos de Venezuela. BOL. Soc. Ven. Cien. Nat. 37, pp. 103-147.
  7. ↑ D. Princz (1973): Moluscos gastrópodos pelecipodos y del Estado Nueva Esparta, Venezuela. Mem. Soc. Cien. Nat. La Salle, 33, pp. 169-222.
  8. ↑ D. Princz, A. González de Pacheco (1981): Los moluscos marinos del Parque Nacional La Restinga, isla de Margarita, Venezuela. Ministerio del ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales Renovables. Informes cientifico series. Zona 14 / IC / 1-42
  9. ↑ JC Capelo, J. Buitrago (1998): Distribución de los moluscos marinos en el oriente de Venezuela. Mem. Soc. Cien. Nat. La Salle 150, pp. 109-160.
  10. ↑ Germaine L. Warmke, R. Tucker Abbott: Caribbean Seashells. Livingston Publishing Company, Narbeth, Pennsylvania 1961.
  11. ^ Edward J. Petuch, Robert F. Myers: Molluscan Communities of the Florida Keys and Adjacent Areas: Their Ecology and Biodiversity. CRC Press, Boca Raton 2014. p. 148.