Buccinum undatum
Encyclopedia
Buccinum undatum, known as the common whelk, is a large edible marine
gastropod in the family
Buccinidae
, the "true whelks".
of the Northern Atlantic and is found on the shores of the United Kingdom
, France
, Norway
, Iceland
, some Arctic
islands, and North America
as far south as New Jersey
. They prefer colder temperatures, and cannot survive at temperatures above 29 degrees Celcius Ten Hallers-Tjabbes, C.C., Everaarts, J.M., Mensink, B.P., & Boon, J.P. (1996) The Decline of the North Sea Whelk (Buccinum undatum L.) Between 1970 and 1990: A Natural or Human-Induced Event? 17:1-3. pp. 333-43. Marine Ecology..
fringe, where it is sometimes found alive at low tide. They do not adapt well to life in the intertidal zone
, due to their intolerance for low salinities. If exposed to air they may crawl from their shell, risking desiccation .
.
The shell surface has a sculpture
of vertical wavy folds (hence the name undatum, which means wavy). The wavy folds are crossed by numerous incised spiral lines, some of which are paired. The aperture
of the shell is broadly oval and tapers to a siphonal canal
. The number of shell whorl
s is seven or eight.
The maximum height of the shell is 10 cm and the maximum width is 6 cm.
The animal emits a thin and copious slime
.
, dogfish
, etc.) crustaceans. They may benefit from seastar
feeding, by eating the extracted bivalve remains abandoned by the seastar.
were found in the digestive gland of Buccinum undatum.
Buccinum undatum are eaten widely. Some believe they are best cooked by boiling in sea water. There is a strong fishery on many shores around the world. They are trapped in pots using dogfish
and brown crab as bait.
and the Wadden Sea
. Additionally, there have been discoveries of vast beds of empty shells where no living whelks are present. Imposex
, the occurrence of male gonads on female whelks, has been detected since the early 1990’s, and is thought to be a product of the shipping industry. Specifically, TBT
has been shown to reduce viability of whelk populations.
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
gastropod in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Buccinidae
Buccinidae
Buccinidae is a very large and diverse taxonomic family of large sea snails, often known as whelks or true whelks.True whelks are mostly marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda...
, the "true whelks".
Distribution
This species is a familiar part of the marine faunaFauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
of the Northern Atlantic and is found on the shores of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, some Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
islands, and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
as far south as New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. They prefer colder temperatures, and cannot survive at temperatures above 29 degrees Celcius Ten Hallers-Tjabbes, C.C., Everaarts, J.M., Mensink, B.P., & Boon, J.P. (1996) The Decline of the North Sea Whelk (Buccinum undatum L.) Between 1970 and 1990: A Natural or Human-Induced Event? 17:1-3. pp. 333-43. Marine Ecology..
Habitat
This species is mainly found on soft substrates in the sublittoral zone, and occasionally on the littoralLittoral
The littoral zone is that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to...
fringe, where it is sometimes found alive at low tide. They do not adapt well to life in the intertidal zone
Intertidal zone
The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...
, due to their intolerance for low salinities. If exposed to air they may crawl from their shell, risking desiccation .
Shell
This species has a solid shell which is very pale. In life the shell is covered in a yellowish-brown periostracumPeriostracum
The periostracum is a thin organic coating or "skin" which is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including mollusks and brachiopods. Among mollusks it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in bivalves and gastropods, but it is also found in cephalopods such as the...
.
The shell surface has a sculpture
Sculpture (mollusc)
The sculpture of a mollusc shell is the three-dimensional ornamentation on the outer surface, as distinct from the basic shape of the shell itself or colouration. Sculpture may be concave as well as convex. Sometimes it has microscopic detail. Sculpture refers to the calcareous outer layer, not the...
of vertical wavy folds (hence the name undatum, which means wavy). The wavy folds are crossed by numerous incised spiral lines, some of which are paired. The aperture
Aperture (mollusc)
The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....
of the shell is broadly oval and tapers to a siphonal canal
Siphonal canal
Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is drawn into the mantle cavity and over the gill and which serves as a chemoreceptor to locate food. In many carnivorous snails, where the siphon is particularly long, the structure...
. The number of shell whorl
Whorl (mollusc)
A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the...
s is seven or eight.
The maximum height of the shell is 10 cm and the maximum width is 6 cm.
The animal emits a thin and copious slime
Snail slime
Snail slime is a kind of mucus, an external bodily secretion which is produced by snails, gastropod mollusks. Land snails and slugs produce mucus, but so does every other kind of gastropod, from marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats...
.
Trophic Connections
This species of whelk feeds on live bivalves, and are, in turn, preyed upon by several fish (codCod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
, dogfish
Dogfish
Dogfish can have many meanings, but usually refers to a type of shark:* A shark belonging to the order Squaliformes, or to one of its constituent families:* Family Centrophoridae * Family Dalatiidae...
, etc.) crustaceans. They may benefit from seastar
SeaStar
SeaStar may refer to any of the following aircraft designs .* the AAC SeaStar, a two-seat biplane from Canada* the Dornier Seawings Seastar, an amphibious aircraft with two engines in a push-pull configuration...
feeding, by eating the extracted bivalve remains abandoned by the seastar.
Parasites
Larval stages of Stephanostomum baccatumStephanostomum baccatum
Stephanostomum baccatum is a species of a parasitic flatworm in the family Acanthocolpidae.Stephanostomum baccatum is a marine hermaphroditic endoparasite, that is feeding on its host....
were found in the digestive gland of Buccinum undatum.
As a food item
Dogfish
Dogfish can have many meanings, but usually refers to a type of shark:* A shark belonging to the order Squaliformes, or to one of its constituent families:* Family Centrophoridae * Family Dalatiidae...
and brown crab as bait.
Ecology and Population Decline
Disappearing or diminishing populations of whelks have been observed since the early 1970’s, especially in the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and the Wadden Sea
Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...
. Additionally, there have been discoveries of vast beds of empty shells where no living whelks are present. Imposex
Imposex
Imposex is a descriptive term applied to some sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs which, under the toxic effects of pollutants, develop sex organs that are in contrast to their actual sex...
, the occurrence of male gonads on female whelks, has been detected since the early 1990’s, and is thought to be a product of the shipping industry. Specifically, TBT
TBT
TBT may refer to:* The chemical compound Tributyltin.* Tampa Bay Technical High School in Tampa, Florida.* tbt*, Tampa Bay Times, a daily newspaper published by the St...
has been shown to reduce viability of whelk populations.
External links
- MarLIN: The Marine Life Information Network for Britain & Ireland
- R. Tucker Abbott & Percy A. Morris, 1995, Shells of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the West Indies, Houghton Mifflin, Boston
- ARKive http://www.arkive.org/common-whelk/buccinum-undatum/