Is this a Murex?

[tektite]

I'm pretty sure it is, but if anyone has a more specific ID I'd love to hear it.

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/stargate985/P1120106.jpg
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/stargate985/P1120109.jpg
http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv244/stargate985/P1120110.jpg

Thanks

[pagojoe]

If it's from Florida or the Caribbean, it's probably this species:

http://www.gastropods.com/2/Shell_7582.shtml

If it's from the Pacific, it's probably this:

http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_7116.shtml

Cheers,




Don

[tektite]

Its from Florida. Thanks for the link, looks just like my snail. Wish my snail's shell was that nice looking though!

[pagojoe]

LOL yours is a really nice example. The problem with using the net pics for ID is that many of the ones that make it to Eddie Hardy's site are "special" ones, and not necessarily typical for the species.

Cheers,



Don

[tektite]

Anyone know what this snail eats? I'd love to keep it alive. There seems to be little info on their diet out there. I know its predatory, but am curious what its main source of food is. From what little info I've seen it looks like it eats bivalves but would like to know for sure.

[pagojoe]

You often find them attached to rocks or slabs, right at or just below the surface of the sand. That's the transition area between the sand dwellers and the rock dwellers, so they may eat both sand-dwelling bivalves as well as other snails (or even barnacles). However, Radwin & D'Attilio said this:

"Paine (1963) stated that Chicoreus florifer has the most specialized diet of the eight predatory species he studied. Radwin & Wells (1968) reported that...(several species)...exhibited strict prey specificity, whereas Muricanthus fulvescens, Chicoreus florifer, Urosalpinx perrugata, and U. tampaensis were found to be less discriminating in choice of prey."

You might track down those papers at the local library, or one of the university libraries and find out exactly what they said, but the latter paper sounds like they might eat whatever molluscs they can catch.

Cheers,



Don