Poirieria zelandica

Taxobox
name = "Poirieria zelandica"


image_caption =
status =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Sorbeoconcha
familia = Muricidae
genus = "Poirieria"
species = "P. zelandica"
binomial = "Poirieria zelandica"
binomial_authority = (Quoy & Gaimard,1833)

"Poirieria zelandica", common name the spiny murex, is a species of large predatory sea snail with an operculum. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Muricidae, the rock snails or murex snails.

Distribution

This murex species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found around all three main New Zealand islands, plus the Chatham Islands.

Habitat

This snail is found from shallow water to depths of 145 m.

hell description

The shell of this species is white, of moderate size, with a broadly conical spire, inflated body whorl, and a long twisted siphonal canal. The sculpture is of five to seven frilled laminate varices, produced in hollow spines, often with the peripheral ones especially long.

The operculum is broadly leaf-shaped, with a pointed terminal nucleus. The spines are generally longer in deeper-water specimens.

The shell height is up to 65 mm, and width, with spines, is up to 79 mm (34 mm without spines).

References

* Powell A W B, "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
* Glen Pownall, "New Zealand Shells and Shellfish", Seven Seas Publishing Pty Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 85467 054 8