Drupella rugosa
Encyclopedia
Drupella rugosa, common name : the rugose drupe, is a species
of sea snail
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family
Muricidae
, the murex snails or rock snails.
shows five spiral rows of rounded brown nodules separated by twelve axial ribs with fine granules, giving the shell a knobby appearance. The columella is narrow and the anal sinus hardly shows. The elliptical aperture
is narrowed by protruding plaits
. The outer lip is with five or six teeth.
s, especially branching corals such as Acropora pruinosa and Montipora informis, leaving a white scar behind. It has a preference for corals stressed mechanically and in low salinity water. They form feeding aggregations on an individual coral. But their impact is contained as they are rarely present in sufficient numbers to cause the coral population to dwindle.
and shallow rocky areas in the Red Sea
and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra
, Chagos, Madagascar
, the Mascarene Basin and in the Western Pacific.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of sea snail
Sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....
, a marine gastropod mollusk 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...
Muricidae
Muricidae
Muricidae, common name murex snails or rock snails, is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails. With approximately 1,600 living species the Muricidae represent almost 10% of the Neogastropoda. Additionally, 1,200 fossil species have been recognised...
, the murex snails or rock snails.
Description
Drupella rugosa is a creamy white to orange, conical shell with a height between 20 mm and 35 mm. The sculptureSculpture (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...
shows five spiral rows of rounded brown nodules separated by twelve axial ribs with fine granules, giving the shell a knobby appearance. The columella is narrow and the anal sinus hardly shows. The elliptical 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....
is narrowed by protruding plaits
Plait (gastropod)
A plait is an anatomical feature which is present the shells of some snails, or gastropods. This sculpture occurs often in the shells of marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda, but it is also found in some pulmonate land snails....
. The outer lip is with five or six teeth.
Feeding patterns
Drupella rugosa grazes on the skeleton of tissue of live coralCoral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
s, especially branching corals such as Acropora pruinosa and Montipora informis, leaving a white scar behind. It has a preference for corals stressed mechanically and in low salinity water. They form feeding aggregations on an individual coral. But their impact is contained as they are rarely present in sufficient numbers to cause the coral population to dwindle.
Distribution
This species is distributed in the intertidal zoneIntertidal 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...
and shallow rocky areas in the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra
Aldabra
Aldabra, the world's second largest coral atoll, is in the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that form part of the Seychelles. Uninhabited and extremely isolated, Aldabra is virtually untouched by humans, has distinctive island fauna including the Aldabra Giant Tortoise, and is...
, Chagos, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, the Mascarene Basin and in the Western Pacific.