Summary[
edit] Description: Hexaplex cichoreum (Gmelin, 1791) - endive murex snail shell, abapertural view (5.6 cm across at its widest), modern (latest Holocene). Many muricid snails have highly spinose shells. Muricids are predatory gastropods. They principally prey on encrusting, conchiferous organisms (e.g., bivalves, barnacles) by boring through the shells. This is a modern, living species of Hexaplex (compare with the fossil Hexaplex shell elsewhere in the "Gastropod Fossils" album). Considerable variation is known in the coloration patterns. Seashell color patterns are rarely preserved in the fossil record. Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Neogastropoda, Muricoidea, Muricidae The gastropods (snails & slugs) are a group of molluscs that occupy marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Most gastropods have a calcareous external shell (the snails). Some lack a shell completely, or have reduced internal shells (the slugs & sea slugs & pteropods). Most members of the Gastropoda are marine. Most marine snails are herbivores (algae grazers) or predators/carnivores. Date: 13 September 2014, 20:40. Source:
Hexaplex cichoreum (endive murex snail shell) (modern). Author:
James St. John.