''Murex trapa'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

the rare-spined 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 ...

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 Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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 ...

of 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 rock snails.Bouchet, P. (2015). Murex trapa Röding, 1798. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=743629 on 2015-12-23

Distribution

This species is widespread from Madagascar and Mascarene Islands, South-Eastern India, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Sea to southern Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Southern Japan.

Habitat

''Murex trapa'' can be found in demersal, sandy habitats. Muricidae - Murex trapa

Description

Shells of ''Murex trapa'' can reach a length of , with a diameter of . These moderately large shells are fusiforms or club-shaped, with height and acute spire and prominent spiral ridges. Shell surface is normally light brown or blue-gray with some yellowish-brown on spines. The body whorl shows three spiny varices. The aperture is lenticular, with a white interior margin and deep red-brown within. The outer apertural lip is crenulated. The sipholal canal is straight and moderately long (about 13–47 mm). Three to four short spines are restricted to the basal half of siphonal canal.Bio Search
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Biology

The rare-spined murex is an active predator, mainly feeding on other molluscs and barnacles.

References

External links

Bibliography

*Cornelis Swennen, Robert Moolenbeek, N. Ruttanadakul - Molluscs of the Southern Gulf of Thailand *F. Pinn - Sea Snails of Pondicherry *G.E.Radwin - Murex Shells of the World: An Illustrated Guide to the Muricidae *Houart R. (2014). Living Muricidae of the world. Muricinae. Murex, Promurex, Haustellum, Bolinus, Vokesimurex and Siratus. Harxheim: ConchBooks. 197 pp. *Hsi-Jen Tao - Shells of Taiwan Illustrated in Colour *Ngoc-Thach Nguyên - Shells of Vietnam *R. Raviche lvan, T. Anandaraj and S. Ram
LENGTH –WEIGHT RELATIONSHIP of Murex trapa and Meretrix meretrix FROM MUTHUPET COASTAL WATERS IN TAMILNADU, INDIA.
*R. Tucker Abbot - Seashells of South East Asia * Ng, T. (2015). Hong Kong Checklist of Marine Species. Molluscs of the Indian Ocean Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Gastropods described in 1798 Taxa named by Peter Friedrich Röding Murex {{Muricinae-stub