''Syrinx aruanus'',

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 Australian trumpet or false trumpet, is a

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), ...

of extremely large

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 ...

measuring up to 75 cm long and weighing up to 18 kg. It is 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 ...

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

in the family Turbinellidae, and is the only species in the genus ''Syrinx''. This is the largest

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

snail (shelled gastropod) species in the world, and arguably the largest (heaviest) gastropod in the world. Although the

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 Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

itself is quite well known to shell collectors because of its extraordinary size, little is known about the ecology and behavior of the species, except for one study about its feeding habits.

Taxonomy

In 1681,

Filippo Bonanni Filippo Bonanni; S.J. or Buonanni (7 January 1638 – 30 March 1723) was an Italian Jesuit scholar. His many works included treatises on fields ranging from anatomy to music. He created the earliest practical illustrated guide for shell collector ...

depicted this species in one of the first books ever published that was solely about seashells. The book was entitled: ''"Ricreatione dell' occhio e dela mente nell oservation' delle Chiociolle, proposta a' curiosi delle opere della natura, &c."'' The taxonomic affinities of ''Syrinx aruanus'' were not properly understood for a long time. Until fairly recently it was placed in the family Melongenidae. A detailed taxonomic overview of this species was provided by Harasewych & Petit (1989).Harasewych M.G. & Petit R.E. (1989). "The nomenclatural status and phylogenetic affinities of ''Syrinx aruanus'' Linne, 1758 (Prosobranchia: Turbinellidae)". '' The Nautilus'' 103(2)
83
��84.

Description

This is the largest recent (as opposed to fossil) shelled gastropod, and the largest shelled gastropod by weight. (However, the largest shell-less gastropod or

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced ...

is '' Aplysia vaccaria'', a giant

sea hare The order Aplysiida, commonly known as sea hares ('' Aplysia'' species and related genera), are medium-sized to very large opisthobranch gastropod molluscs with a soft internal shell made of protein. These are marine gastropod molluscs in t ...

known as the California black sea hare. The largest ''A. vaccaria'' has been measured at 99 cm in length and weighing in at almost 14 kg). An extremely large species of fossil gastropod is '' Campanile giganteum''. The overall height (also known as length) of the

of ''S. aruanus'' is up to 72 cm. Syrinx aruanus shell 3

The maximum known size of the shell has been widely reported as 91 cm, however, this has been corrected in a number of publications including the article "Sizing ocean giants: patterns of intraspecific size variation in marine megafauna" where the authors reported the following: "Taylor & Glover (2003) reported that largest specimen was 91 cm in length and referenced a 1982 issue of Hawaiian Shell News (Issue 7, pg. 12). A photograph shows club member Don Pisor and children holding the specimen, with the caption stating the specimen was 36 inches (91.4 cm). However, the record holder for the largest S. aruanus ascribed by the Registry of World Record Size Shells places the maximum length at 72.2 cm. This specimen is also attributed to Don Pisor and was recorded in 1979. We have learned that these specimens are the same individual and the correct measurement is 72.2 cm (D Pisor, pers. obs., 2014)". It is also of some note that this exact same specimen has been listed as 72.2 cm (Wagner and Abbott's World Size Records, 1990 edition), 772mm (Registry of World Record Size Shells) and 76.2 cm (signage by the actual record shell on display in the Houston Museum of Natural Science). The shell is usually pale

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

in color, however in life it is covered by thick brown or grey

periostracum The periostracum ( ) is a thin, organic coating (or "skin") that is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including molluscs and brachiopods. Among molluscs, it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in gastropods an ...

. The shell color can fade to a creamy yellow. The whole shell has a spindle-like shape. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

of the shell is high. The whorls usually have a strong keel which can have nodules on it. The shell has a long siphonal canal. There are no folds on the

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (, Arabic: ) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and ancient Roman cuisin ...

, unlike some other genera within the same family. Juvenile shells show a long tower-shaped protoconch or embryonic shell of 5 whorls, which is usually lost in the adult. This protoconch is about 2.5 cm long and looks so unlike the adult shell that it was described by George Washington Tryon in 1887 as a different species. The weight of the animal (including the shell) can be up to 18 kg (40 lb). The

radula The radula (; : radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by mollusks for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters ...

of this species was described in detail by Wells et al. (2003).

Distribution

This species occurs in the northern half of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and adjacent areas, including eastern

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

Ecology

These giant snails live on sandy bottoms in the

intertidal zone The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various ...

and the

sublittoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely in ...

down to about 30 m.Carpenter K. E. & Niem V. H. (eds.) (1998)
''FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 1. Seaweeds, corals, bivalves and gastropods''
Rome,

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

, ISSN 1020-4547, 686 pp., pages tp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/w7191e/w7191e54.pdf 603-617 page 605. Where it has not been overfished, this snail is locally common. (Abbott & Dance, 1982) This carnivorous species is specialized for feeding on

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

worms in the genera '' Polyodontes'' ( Acoetidae), '' Loimia'' ( Terebellidae) and '' Diopatra'' ( Onuphidae).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 seem unlikely for such a large gastropod to feed on worms, but worms in the family Acoetidae do include the largest polychaetes, with a length of over 1 meter. These worms live in tubes; ''Syrinx aruanus'' can reach them with its

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 ...

, which has a length of up to 250 mm.

Human uses

This species is fished both for its very large shell and for its edible flesh, which is sometimes used as bait. The shell is sold for shell collections and is used as a source of lime. Another use of its shell is as a water carrier.Dance S. P. (1992). ''Shells''.

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

. London, New York, Stuttgart. 256 pp., . page 141. Syrinx aruanus 2

The

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

peoples who live on the

Pennefather River The Pennefather River is a river located on the western Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia. Location and features Formed by the confluence of a series of waterways including the Fish Creek in the Port Musgrave Aggregation ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, use (or used) a half-moon shaped nose-pin known as an ''imina'' which is made from the shell of ''Syrinx aruanus''. This nose pin is employed by men only; the women use a piece of grass instead. In order to make one of these nose pins, if the ''Syrinx'' shell is fresh, then it can be worked on right away, but if it is dried out, the shell is first soaked for two or three days in water. After this, a portion of the shell which is near the suture and the keel on the

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology (biology), morphology of the gastropod shell, shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk ...

is chipped out using a stone, (see image), and then is ground down with water. The resulting rib-shaped object is used as the nose-pin.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from reference. Roth W. E. (1910). "North Queensland ethnography". ''Records of the Australian Museum'', Sydney
8
1)
page 1
106
page 30

External links

* Two images of shells with periostracum at:
gastropods.com
* More good quality images of shells here

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1548356 Turbinellidae Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Marine molluscs of Asia Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus