''Cenchritis muricatus'' is a species of

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 ...

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 ...

Littorinidae The Littorinidae are a taxonomic family of over 200 species of sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha, commonly known as periwinkles and found worldwide. Names In English-speaking countries, gastropod molluscs from o ...

, the winkles or periwinkles. It occurs in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

, the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

and the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

.Reid, D. G. (2014)
''Cenchritis muricatus'' (Linnaeus, 1758).
World Register of Marine Species. Accessed 2 September 2014. It is known commonly as the beaded periwinkle.Díaz-Ferguson, E., et al. (2012)
Genetic structure and connectivity patterns of two Caribbean rocky-intertidal gastropods.
''Journal of Molluscan Studies'' 78(1) 112-18. This snail often crawls out of the water and climbs vertical rocky cliffs to heights of over 14 meters, where it avoids desiccation and overheating by hiding in moist crevices.Judge, M. L., et al. (2009)
Life in the supralittoral fringe: Microhabitat choice, mobility and growth in the tropical periwinkle ''Cenchritis'' (=''Tectarius'') ''muricatus'' (Linneaus [''sic''], 1758).
''Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology'' 369(2) 148–54.

References

Further reading