Sea snails are slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs , usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone . They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs , which are distinguished from snails primarily by the absence of a visible shell .
16-424: Buccinum is a genus of medium-sized sea snails , marine gastropod molluscs in the family Buccinidae , the true whelks . Snails in this genus are commonly called whelks , a name shared with several related and unrelated species. The common whelk Buccinum undatum is the most common representative of the genus in the northern Atlantic Ocean . The shell is ovate or ovate-conical and elongated. The spire
32-475: A gill or gills; a few species, though, have a lung, are intertidal , and are active only at low tide when they can move around in the air. These air-breathing species include false limpets in the family Siphonariidae and another group of false limpets in the family Trimusculidae . Many, but not all, sea snails have an operculum . The shells of most species of sea snails are spirally coiled. Some, though, have conical shells, and these are often referred to by
48-401: A cylindrical trunk, susceptible of being much elongated or of being concealed entirely within the body. This trunk is armed at its extremity with beaks, which enable the animal to pierce the shell of other molluscs and crustaceans , upon which it preys. The sexes are separate. The shells of the males are generally smaller, and less inflated than those of the females. The males are provided with
64-477: A thick layer of nacre and have been used as a source of mother of pearl . Historically, the button industry relied on these species for a number of years. The shells of sea snails are used for protection by many kinds of hermit crabs . A hermit crab carries the shell by grasping the central columella of the shell using claspers on the tip of its abdomen. Trimusculidae See text Synonym of Trimusculidae: Synonyms of Trimusculus : Trimusculus
80-505: A very large love dart, i.e. an exciting appendage, which, in a state of repose, is situated under the right edge of the mantle. The eggs are generally united together. They are sometimes driven and transported by the waves to distances far removed from the places where they had been deposited; whence the same species of Buccinum are often found in very different climates. The whelks are met with in all seas, especially upon rocks, where they occur in large numbers. The warmest climates furnish
96-467: Is a genus of medium-sized air-breathing sea snails or false limpets , marine pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Trimusculidae. Trimusculus is the only genus in the family Trimusculidae . Trimusculidae, the button snails , is the only family in the superfamily Trimusculoidea , a superfamily of false limpets. These are marine pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the clade Eupulmonata . Trimusculids are not very closely related to
112-408: Is moderate and pointed. The aperture is oval or oblong with a deep notch anteriorly and without a siphonal canal. The columella is plain, not flattened, swollen above, and often covered with a wide and flattened calcareous callosity, of more diaphanous substance. There sometimes exists a fold at the base of the columella. The outer lip is plain, quite thin, sometimes recurved, and forming a margin on
128-464: Is not always easy. Some species that live in brackish water (such as certain neritids ) can be listed as either freshwater snails or marine snails, and some species that live at or just above the high tide level (for example, species in the genus Truncatella ) are sometimes considered to be sea snails and sometimes listed as land snails . Sea snails are a very large and diverse group of animals. Most snails that live in salt water respire using
144-437: The siphonariids , another family of marine air-breathing false-limpets. The trimusculids are in the clade Eupulmonata , and are quite closely related to air-breathing land snails. Trimusculids are sometimes known as " button shells" or "button snails" because, especially in the eastern Pacific species Trimusculus reticulatus , the shells are small, white, almost perfectly circular in outline, only moderately elevated, and thus
160-596: The North American Busycon species and the North Atlantic Buccinum undatum ) and periwinkles including Littorina littorea . The shells of sea snails are often found washed up on beaches . Because many are attractive and durable, they have been used to make necklaces and other jewelry since prehistoric times. The shells of a few species of large sea snails within the Vetigastropoda have
176-530: The common name of limpets . In one unusual family ( Juliidae ), the shell of the snail has become two hinged plates closely resembling those of a bivalve ; this family is sometimes called the "bivalved gastropods". Their shells are found in a variety of shapes and sizes, but are normally very small. Those living species of sea snails range in size from Syrinx aruanus , the largest living shelled gastropod species at 91 cm (36 in), to minute species whose shells are less than 1 mm at adult size. Because
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#1732884495868192-551: The emargination at the base of the shell. The head is rather thick, furnished with two conical, depressed tentacles supporting the eyes upon the outer side, (sometimes the eyes do not exist, but this case is extremely rare) . The mouth is provided with a retractile trunk, armed with minute teeth. The radula acts as a rasp. The sexes are separate. The love dart of the male is considerable, without an exterior furrow at its base. All animals are carnivores and scavengers , feeding on dead or damaged marine animals. They are provided with
208-423: The exterior. The thin, horny operculum is ovate and concentrically striate. The soft body is elongated and spiral. The foot almost always considerable and subelliptical. It is shielded or two-lobed before, emarginated behind, bearing an operculum. The mantle is simple and forms a thin-edged flap over the branchial cavity. It is provided with a branchial siphon, projecting, thick, very long and dorsal, issuing from
224-588: The growth layers of mollusks you can predict the size the mollusk shell can reach. The following cladogram is an overview of the main clades of living gastropods based on the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), with taxa that contain saltwater or brackish water species marked in boldface (some of the highlighted taxa consist entirely of marine species, but some of them also contain freshwater or land species.) A number of species of sea snails are harvested in aquaculture and used by humans for food, including abalone , conch , limpets , whelks (such as
240-410: The shells of sea snails are strong and durable in many cases, as a group they are well represented in the fossil record . The shells of snails are complex and grow at different speeds. The speed of growth is affected by a few variables such as the temperature of the water, depth of the water, food present for the snail, as well as isotopic oxygen levels. By looking at the composition of aragonite in
256-585: The species most brilliant in coloring. Some species serve for food to the inhabitants of many countries, particularly upon the shores of the English Channel and the North Sea . Species in the genus Buccinum include: This is a long list because, originally, all species resembling a Buccinum were categorized in this genus. Most of them have become synonyms in the course of time. Sea snail Determining whether some gastropods should be called sea snails
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