''Euspira catena'', previously known as ''Natica catena'',

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 con ...

the large necklace shell, is a medium-sized

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

predatory Predation is a biological interaction in which 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 ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Naticidae Naticidae, common name moon snails or necklace shells, is a family (biology), family of medium to large-sized predatory sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha. The shells of the species in this family a ...

, the moon snails.Bouchet, P. (2012). Lunatia catena (da Costa, 1778). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=150590 on 2012-08-15

Fossil records

The fossil record of this species dates back to the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

(age range: 13.65 to 0.012 million years ago). These fossils have been found in Morocco, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Slovakia.

Description

The rounded shell is thin and polished and brownish-yellow, with a row of reddish markings just below the suture of the last whorl. It can grow to about and has a short spire and seven rounded whorls separated with distinct sutures. The lowest whorl occupies about 90% of the volume. It has a large umbilicus and the operculum is ear-shaped and spirally wound. The foot is cream coloured and very large, partially covering the shell when the animal is moving. The head has two long flattened tentacles and a short snout with extensible

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

. The large necklace shell might be confused with a similar but smaller species, the common necklace shell ('' Euspira pulchella'').

Distribution

The large necklace shell is found on the coasts of Northwest Europe, from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

to the

Skagerrak The Skagerrak (; , , ) is a strait running between the North Jutlandic Island of Denmark, the east coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea. The Skagerrak contains some of the busiest shipping ...

and in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.Marine Species Identification Portal
/ref>

Biology

The large necklace shell lives buried in the sand and gravel of the lower shore and the

neritic zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminate ...

to depths of 125 metres. It feeds on

bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...

molluscs, penetrating their shells with its proboscis and sucking out the contents. Egg capsules are laid in a spirally wound collar of jelly embedded with sand grains. The remains of these may be found on the beach.

Bibliography

* Backeljau, T. (1986). ''Lijst van de recente mariene mollusken van België ist of the recent marine molluscs of Belgium'' Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen: Brussels, Belgium. 106 pp. * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification''. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213 * Muller, Y. (2004). ''Faune et flore du littoral du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Belgique: inventaire. oastal fauna and flora of the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Belgium: inventory'. Commission Régionale de Biologie Région Nord Pas-de-Calais: France. 307 pp. * Torigoe K. & Inaba A. (2011) ''Revision on the classification of Recent Naticidae''. Bulletin of the Nishinomiya Shell Museum 7: 133 + 15 pp., 4 pls

References

External links

Marine Species

Marlin

{{Taxonbar, from=Q368815 Naticidae Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Taxa named by Emanuel Mendes da Costa Gastropods described in 1778