Beautifully-banded Moon Snail (Tanea euzona)

Also known as Moon Shell, Moon Snail, Necklace Shell, Naticid Snail, Painted Moon Snail, Painted Sand Snail, Predatory Sea Snail

Description

Also known as Moon Shell, Moon Snail, Necklace Shell, Naticid Snail, Painted Moon Snail, Painted Sand Snail, Predatory Sea Snail.

Found over intertidal, to deeper sandy areas, in off-shore reefs. Often found washed up on beaches. They produce a collar-shaped egg-mass.
They feed on bivalves.
Length - 3cm
Depth - 0-60m
Widespread Indo-West Pacific

These are predatory sea snails that envelope their prey and then bore a hole through the shell using its radula, injecting an acid secretion. Once the shell is bored open, the proboscis is used to consume the flesh of the prey.
In the breeding season, the female moon snail lays a rather stiff egg mass which includes sand and mucus. These objects wash up on sandy beaches fairly often, and are known by the common name "sand collars" because of their resemblance to an old-fashioned removable shirt collar or false-collar. Ref: http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/mollusca/gastropoda/naticidae/naticidae.htm

0 comments

Leave a comment

Known Sightings / Photograph Locations

Share this: