''Chicoreus palmarosae'' (rose-branch murex) 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 ...
of predatory
sea snail, a
marine gastropod mollusk
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 e ...
in the family
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 Neoga ...
, the murex snails.
Description
The size of an adult shell varies between 65 mm and 130 mm.
It is mostly dark red with branch like structures all over the conch.
Distribution
This species occurs in the Indian Ocean along the
Chagos
The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives arc ...
Atoll and the
Mascarene
The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Thei ...
Basin; in the Pacific Ocean along
Sri Lanka and Southwest
Japan.
References
* Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). ''Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice''
* Schmidt, W. & O. Bellec (1994). Findings of some uncommon sea-shells off Madagascar. ''African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries'' 5(1): 63 - 66.
External links
*
Muricidae
Gastropods described in 1822
Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
{{Muricidae-stub