''Triplofusus giganteus'', previously known as ''Pleuroploca gigantea'',

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 Florida horse conch, 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 extremely large

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

subtropical and tropical

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 ...

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 ...

Fasciolariidae The Fasciolariidae, common name the "tulip snails and spindle snails", are a family (biology), family of small to large sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Buccinoidea. The family Fasciolariidae probably appe ...

, the spindle snails, tulip snails and their allies.Rosenberg, G. (2018). ''Triplofusus giganteus'' (Kiener, 1840). In: MolluscaBase (2018). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=420051 on 2021-07-02 Although known as a horse conch, this is not a true

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

, as it is not in the family

Strombidae Strombidae, commonly known as the true conchs, is a taxonomic family of medium-sized to very large sea snails in the superfamily Stromboidea, and the Epifamily Neostromboidae. The term true conchs, being a common name, does not have an exact me ...

. With a shell length that can reach 60 cm, this species is the largest gastropod in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

waters,Leal, J.H. (2002). Gastropods. p. 99-147. In: Carpenter, K.E. (ed.). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. 1600p. tp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/y4160e/y4160e08.pdf PDF/ref> and one of the largest

s in the world.

Distribution

This large sea snail is found along the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of the Americas from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

to the north, to

Yucatán Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...

in 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 ...

to the south.

Anatomy

The animal can retract the soft parts entirely into the shell and close it with the operculum. The soft parts are bright orange in color.

Shell description

This species

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

length can reach 24 inches (60 cm). The outline of the shell is somewhat fusiform, with a long siphonal canal, and having up to 10

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

. Its sculpture present several spiral cords and axial ribs, some of which can form knobs on the whorls' shoulders. The shell color is bright orange in very young individuals. The shell often becomes greyish white to salmon-orange when adult, with a light tan or dark brown periostracum.

Ecology

Habitat

This species dwells on sand, weed and mud flats from the low intertidal to shallow subtidal zones, in 20 foot (6 m) deep water.

Feeding habits

''Triplofusus giganteus'' is a

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

species, and feeds on other large marine gastropods, including the

tulip shell Tulip snail or tulip shell is the common name for eight species of large, predatory, subtropical and tropical sea snails from the Western Atlantic. These species are in the genus ''Fasciolaria''. They are marine gastropod mollusks in the fami ...

(''

Fasciolaria tulipa ''Fasciolaria tulipa'', common name the true tulip, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Fasciolariidae. Distribution This species occurs from the North Carolina coast all the way south and west to the Gul ...

''), the lightning whelk (''

Sinistrofulgur perversum ''Sinistrofulgur perversum'', the lightning whelk, is an edible species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell. ...

''), and the queen conch (''

Lobatus gigas ''Aliger gigas,'' originally known as ''Strombus gigas'' or more recently as ''Lobatus gigas'', commonly known as the queen conch, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family of true conches, the Strombidae. Th ...

'') as well as some ''

Murex ''Murex'' is a genus of medium to large sized predatory tropical sea snails. These are carnivorous marine gastropod molluscs in the family Muricidae, commonly called "murexes" or "rock snails".Houart, R.; Gofas, S. (2010). Murex Linnaeus, 1758 ...

'' species.Wells F. E., Walker D. I. & Jones D. S. (eds.) (2003)
''Food of giants – field observations on the diet of Syrinx aruanus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Turbinellidae) the largest living gastropod''
The Marine Flora and Fauna of Dampier, Western Australia. Western Australian Museum, Perth. It may also present

cannibalistic Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species In biology, a species is the basic ...

behaviour, feeding on smaller

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

individuals. It has been observed (in an aquarium setting) to eat small hermit crabs of the species ''

Clibanarius vittatus The thinstripe hermit crab, ''Clibanarius vittatus'', is a species of hermit crab in the family Diogenidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean. Description Like other hermit crabs, ''Clibanarius v ...

''.

Parasites

Parasites of ''Triplofusus giganteus'' include trematode '' Lophotaspis vallei''.

Human use

Modern times

The U.S. state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

declared it the state seashell in 1969. The shell is popular with shell collectors partly because of its great size.

Archaeological and anthropological uses

In classic

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

art, the Horse Conch is shown being utilised in many ways including as paint and ink holders for elite scribes, and also as a bugle or trumpet. In southern

, Native Americans, including the

Calusa The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of ...

and

Tequesta The Tequesta (also Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, Vizcaynos) were a Native American tribe. At the time of first European contact they occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. They had infrequent contact with Europeans a ...

, used the horse conch to make several types of artifact. The whole shell, or more commonly only the columella, was attached to a wooden handle and used as a hammer or woodworking tool. The body whorl was used as a drinking cup. The columella was also used to make plummets or sinkers.

References

* Rosenberg, G. 1992. ''Encyclopedia of Seashells''. Dorset: New York. 224 pp. page(s): 91 * Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. ''Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico'', Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas. * Snyder M.A., Vermeij G.J. & Lyons W.G. (2012) T''he genera and biogeography of Fasciolariinae (Gastropoda, Neogastropoda, Fasciolariidae).'' Basteria 76(1-3): 31-70 {{Taxonbar, from=Q140046 Fasciolariidae Symbols of Florida Gastropods described in 1825 Taxa named by George Brettingham Sowerby I Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean