Sharon: This shell I have is very thin, it's not very wide, the texture is sort of like glass and very shiny.
The closest description I've found in the NC Sea Grant field guide is the Alternate Tellin and the fragile surfclam seems to resemble it also.
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Click for 320 px image
Hi Sharon,
Yes, this is Tellina alternata Say. I notice that the shell in image 0014 met its demise as a dinner for Polinices duplicatus, whose radula rasped the rather large hole near the umbos.
Regards,
Paul M.
Sharon: From what I'm hearing, this Polinices duplicatus is a real cold blooded killer (they are cold blooded aren't they?) though to be more precise, should I say poikilothermic?
Hi Sharon,
Yes, all the moon snails are very effective predators upon other molluscs, especially bivalves. But sometimes they also attack gastropods, including other moon snails.
Yes, all invertebrates are technically poikilotherms, though the term is most often used in reference to vertebrates (mammals and birds are homeotherms while reptiles, amphibians and fish are poikilotherms).
Regards,
Paul Monfils
Terri: Beautiful tellins, Sharon. And yes, Polinices duplicatus is a real ectothermic killer! Seems there are always shells on the beach with those radula-drilled holes. There are other gastropods who do the same thing (oyster drills, etc.). I've always enjoyed teaching kids to be "beach detectives" -- to see if they could find molluscs that were murdered by other molluscs! A type of beach CSI!
But this discussion reminds me of a Gary Larson cartoon (one of my favorites) with an alligator sitting on the witness stand screaming "Of course I did it in cold blood, you idiot! I'm a reptile!"
Terri K. Hathaway
Marine Education Specialist
North Carolina Sea Grant
http://www.ncseagrant.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment