''Babelomurex cariniferus'', common name Babel's latiaxis, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for 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 ...

, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Muricidae Muricidae is a large and varied taxonomic family of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, commonly known as murex snails or rock snails. With about 1,600 living species, the Muricidae represent almost 10% of the Neogas ...

, the murex snails or rock snails.

Distribution

''Babelomurex cariniferus'' is present from the Mediterranean Sea to the west coast of Africa (Canaries, Cape Verde, Angola). This species (as

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

Latiaxis babelis) is listed in the IUCN Red List, because it is thought to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Habitat

These sea snails live in the coral reef among corals and sponges. They can be found from a few meters to more than 1000.

Description

Shells of ''Babelomurex cariniferus'' can reach a size of . The shell surface may be whitish or dark greyish. These shells are variably shaped. They show numerous flattened spires with very thorny axial ribs. The keels of the whorls are adorned with several spiniform scales. A corneous operculum is present. This species is quite similar to '' Babelomurex benoiti'', but ''Babelomurex cariniferus'' is more variable in feature and sculpture and differs in the number of spiniform scales.

Biology

These uncommon infralittoral sea snails are specialist feeders. In fact they feed exclusively on the polyps of the colonies of scleractinian

stony corals Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

.Alexandra Richter and Angel A. Luqu
Sex change in two Mediterranean species of Coralliophilidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Neogastropoda)
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References

External links

NCBI
*

Bibliography

* Cossignani T. (2010) ''Validazione di Babelomurex tectumsinensis (Deshayes, 1856).'' Malacologia Mostra Mondiale 66: 19 * Emilio Rolan - Malacological Fauna from the Cape Verde Archipelago * Gofas, S.; Afonso, J.P.; Brandào, M. (Ed.). (S.a.). ''Conchas e Moluscos de Angola = Coquillages et Mollusques d'Angola. hells and molluscs of Angola'' Universidade Agostinho / Elf Aquitaine Angola: Angola. 140 pp. * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification.'' Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213 * Repetto G., Orlando F. & Arduino G. (2005): Conchiglie del Mediterraneo, Amici del Museo "Federico Eusebio", Alba, Italy {{Taxonbar, from=Q309358 cariniferus Gastropods described in 1834 Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Molluscs of the Canary Islands Molluscs of Angola Gastropods of Cape Verde Fauna of Malta Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN