Malacology
Malacology is the study of mollusks. This includes animals like octopus, snails, slugs, and clams. It is the second largest phylum of animals, making them one of the most successful groups on the planet. There are over 80,000 described species of mollusks with many more left to be discovered. Mullusca is composed of 8 recognized classes including Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Polyplacophora, Scaphapoda, Monoplacophorans, the Aplacophorans, Caudofoveata and Solenogastres, and Bivalvia.
Knobbed Whelk
(Gmelin, 1791)
Busycon carica
Class:
Gastropoda
Order:
Neogastropoda
Family:
Buccinidae
Image Voucher:
ANSP 411068
Ecological Information
Distribution:
Depth (m):
Massachusetts to Florida
0 to 70 meters
Diet:
Carnivore; They feed on a variety of bivalves including oysters.
Habitat:
Marine; Shallow to moderately shallow water including oyster reefs and clam beds.
Misc. Facts
It is the official state shell of New Jersey and Georgia.
Citations
MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Busycon carica (Gmelin, 1791). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=160185 on 2021-06-10
Morris, P. A. (1987). A field guide to shells: Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the West Indies (3rd ed.). Houghton Mifflin.
Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (214). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics. https://doi.org/1.116/j.ecoinf.214.8.5.
Rosenberg, G. 2009. Malacolog 4.1.1: A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca. [WWW database (version 4.1.1)] URL http://www.malacolog.org/