Northern moon snail

Taxobox
name = Northern moon snail


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Neotaenioglossa
familia = Naticidae
genus = "Polinices"
species = "P. heros"
binomial = "Polinices heros"
synonyms = "Lunatia heros"Cite web|url=http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=72923|title=ITIS classification|publisher=ITIS.gov]
binomial_authority = (Say, 1822)

The northern moon snail, "Lunatia heros", is a species of large sea snail, a predatory marine gastropod mollusk.

It is found rather uncommonly intertidally, but is much more commonly subtidally. This species, like all moon snails, feeds voraciously on clams and other snails.

Distribution

This is a western Atlantic species, which occurs from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Delaware.

Habitat

Northern moon snails are found on mud and sand substrates at depths of up to 364 m (1,200 ft).

hell description

The shell of this species is globular and can, under the right conditions, grow as large as 125 mm (7 inches) in maximum dimension.

The operculum is large, ear-shaped in outline, and is corneus and somewhat transparent. On beaches where the shell of this species washed up commonly, the operculum will usually also be found washed up in the drift line.

Moon snail predation

Evidence of northern moon snail predation is usually much easier to find than the snails themselves:

The powerful foot enables this gastropod to plow under the sand in search of other mollusks. Upon finding one, it "drills" a hole into the shell with its radula, releases digestive enzymes, and sucks out the somewhat predigested contents.Cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1881652327&id=dq-iIBVn4_MC&dq=spiral+tufted+bryozoa|title=Marine Life of the North Atlantic: Canada to New England |accessdate=2007-02-17|publisher=Aqua Quest Publications|year=2003|author=Andrew J. Martinez]

When empty shells of clams and snails, including other moon snails, are seen to have a neat "countersunk" hole drilled in them, this is evidence of predation by a moon snail.

External links

* [http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/field_guide/underwater/moon_snail.cfm Eco Field Guide: Northern moon snail]
* The Long Island Shell Club, 1988, Seashells of Long Island, Long Island Shell Club, New York.

Notes