Pleuroploca trapezium
Encyclopedia
Pleuroploca trapezium, common name : the trapezium horse conch, is a species
of sea snail
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family
Fasciolariidae
, the spindle snails, the tulip snails and their allies.
This species is sought after for food but also to be used as a trumpet when the tip of the spire is cut off.
is of moderate length. The apex
is usually eroded. The sutures are constricted. The shoulders on the whorls
are covered with spiral rows of slightly pointed strong nodules. The surface is covered with fine, brown, incised spiral lines, mainly in pairs. The outer lip is dentate with seven pairs of teeth, situated where the paired lines meet the edge. The oval aperture
is pale with strong ridges internally. The columella is smooth posteriorly. The siphonal canal
is extended and short. The fasciole is weak.
Pleuroploca trapezium has been observed preying on the spiny cerith (Cerithium echinatum
) in the Seychelles
.
and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra
, Madagascar
, Mauritius
, Mozambique
, Réunion
, South Africa
and Tanzania
; in the Pacific Ocean from Japan
down to Melanesia
, New Caledonia
and North Queensland
but rarely along Australia
n coasts.
on seagrass beds at depths between 0 - 40 m.
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...
Fasciolariidae
Fasciolariidae
Fasciolariidae, common name the "tulip snails and spindle snails", is a family of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Buccinoidea....
, the spindle snails, the tulip snails and their allies.
This species is sought after for food but also to be used as a trumpet when the tip of the spire is cut off.
Subspecies and formae
- Subspecies Pleuroploca trapezium audouini (JonasJonas (name)Jonas is a common male name in most western countries. It is primarily used as a first name, but also occurs as a surname. It is particularly frequent in the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark...
, 1846) - Forma Pleuroploca trapezium f. intermedia (KobeltWilhelm KobeltWilhelm Kobelt was a German zoologist born in Alsfeld, Grand Duchy of Hesse. He specialized in the field of malacology.Kobelt is remembered for his work as curator of the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main....
, 1875) - Forma Pleuroploca trapezium f. paeteli (StrebelHermann Strebel (malacologist)Hermann Strebel was a malacologist from Germany and Mexico.- External links :* at Internet Archive...
, 1911)
Description
The golden brown shell is solid and heavy. Its shell size varies between 85 mm and 250 mm with a common length of 200 mm. The spireSpire (mollusc)
A spire is a descriptive term for part of the coiled shell of mollusks. The word is a convenient aid in describing shells, but it does not refer to a very precise part of shell anatomy: the spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl...
is of moderate length. The apex
Apex (mollusc)
Apex is an anatomical term for the tip of the mollusc shell of a gastropod, scaphopod, or cephalopod mollusc.-Gastropods:The word "apex" is most often used to mean the tip of the spire of the shell of a gastropod...
is usually eroded. The sutures are constricted. The shoulders on the whorls
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...
are covered with spiral rows of slightly pointed strong nodules. The surface is covered with fine, brown, incised spiral lines, mainly in pairs. The outer lip is dentate with seven pairs of teeth, situated where the paired lines meet the edge. The oval 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 pale with strong ridges internally. The columella is smooth posteriorly. The 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...
is extended and short. The fasciole is weak.
Pleuroploca trapezium has been observed preying on the spiny cerith (Cerithium echinatum
Cerithium echinatum
Cerithium echinatum is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cerithiidae.-Description:This snail's shell has a short siphonal canal. The shell has spiral rows of bumps as well as reddish-brown dashes...
) in the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
.
Distribution
This species is distributed in the Red SeaRed 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...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
; in the Pacific Ocean from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
down to Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
and North Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
but rarely along Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n coasts.
Habitat
This species can be found in the benthic zoneBenthic zone
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos. They generally live in close relationship with the substrate bottom; many such...
on seagrass beds at depths between 0 - 40 m.
Further reading
- Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). Mollusques testaces marins de Madagascar. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
- Richmond, M. (Ed.) (1997). A guide to the seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean islands. Sida/Department for Research Cooperation, SAREC: Stockholm, Sweden. ISBN 91-630-4594-X. 448 pp.