Black turban snail

Taxobox
name = "Tegula funebralis"


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
ordo = Archaeogastropoda
familia = Trochidae
genus = "Tegula"
species = "T. funebralis"
binomial = "Tegula funebralis"
binomial_authority = (A. Adams, 1855)

The black turban snail, "Tegula funebralis", is a medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family "Trochidae", the top snails.

Distribution

The species is found along the Pacific coast of North America from Vancouver Island to the central part of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.

hell description

Most adult individuals of this species have shells which are 20 to 40 mm or about an inch, to an inch and three quarters in diameter.

Empty shells of this species are very often used by hermit crabs.

Habitat

The species is found in the rocky intertidal zone, where these snails graze on algae, microscopic films and wrack.

Life habits

"T. funebralis" is sexually dimorphic, not hermaphroditic. These snails may live as long as twenty or thirty years.When fleeing a predator on a sloping substrate, the snail may simply detach itself and thus it will roll or drop away.

Predators

Predators of "T. funebralis" include sea otters and predatory starfish such as "Pisaster ochraceous".

References

James H. McLean, 1969, Marine shells of southern California