Naticidae, common namemoon snails or necklace shells, is a family of medium to large-sized predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the cladeLittorinimorpha. The shells of the species in this family are mostly globular in shape.
Naticidae is the only family in the superfamily Naticoidea.
It has been estimated that worldwide there are about 260–270 recentspecies of naticid snails.[1] This group is assumed to have originated in the late Triassic or in the early Jurassic.[1] Members of this family can be recognized by the shape of their shells, distinct appearance, or by their predatory behaviour.[1]
Naticids are widely distributed and occur worldwide and are considered to be a delicate part of the web of nature amongst many others. The greatest diversity of both species and genera is found in tropical regions. Even so, naticid snails are also plentiful in temperate, Arctic and Antarctic waters.[1]
Habitat
Moon snails live on sandy substrates, at a great variety of depths depending on the species (from the intertidal zone to thousands of meters in depth).[1] They are often seen ploughing along in the sand, searching for bivalves and other prey, resulting in countersunk bore-holes.
Naticids are predatory, feeding mostly on bivalves. They will also attack almost any other shelled mollusk they encounter in the sand, such as scaphopods and other gastropods, including other moon snails.[1] Additionally, Conuber sordidum was shown to prey on the soldier crab Mictyris longicarpus (Crustacea) by drilling predation.[2][3] To catch soldier crabs, C. sordidum uses the same behaviour as when hunting shelled molluscan prey.[3]
The moon snail envelops the prey and then bores a hole through the shell using its radula and an acid secretion. Once the shell is bored open, the proboscis is used to consume the flesh of the prey. The hole in the shell, which has a "countersunk" appearance with chamfered edges, and which varies in size according to the species, is a characteristic sign of moon snail predation.
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, especially when intact. These egg masses are characteristic of the moon snails, being unique to this family.[4] The sand collar consists of sand grains cemented together by a gelatinous matrix, with the embedded eggs contained within the matrix. The collar is laid by the female moon snail, and the size of the sand collar gives an indication of the size of the adult female moon snail that laid it; larger species of moon snail lay larger sand collars.
Human interactions
In Korean cuisine, moon snails are called golbaengi (골뱅이) and eaten as golbaengi-muchim (moon snail salad).[5]
Moon snail shells are attractive and relatively large, and often popular in jewellery and ornamentation.
Taxonomy
Traditional classification
Some authors have suggested a distinct separation of the Naticidae into four subfamilies: Ampullospirinae, Naticinae, Polinicinae and Sininae.[6] This arrangement is mainly based on morphological data, such as details of the operculum including the material (calcareous in the Naticinae, corneous in the Polinicinae and Sininae) and size, and also the morphology of the shell.[7][8][9]
2005 taxonomy
The following four subfamilies were recognized in the taxonomy of Bouchet & Rocroi (2005):[10]
Cryptostoma: synonym of Cryptostomus Blainville, 1818: synonym of Sinum Röding, 1798 (incorrect subsequent spelling of Cryptostomus)* Choristes P. P. Carpenter, 1872: synonym of Amauropsis Mörch, 1857
Cryptostomus Blainville, 1818: synonym of Sinum Röding, 1798
Ectosinum Iredale, 1931: synonym of Sinum Röding, 1798
Eucaryum Ehrenberg, 1831: synonym of Polinices Montfort, 1810
Eunatica Melvill, 1899: synonym of Natica (Eunatica) Melvill, 1899: synonym of Natica Scopoli, 1777 (unaccepted rank)
† Labellinacca Cossmann, 1919: synonym of Euspira Agassiz, 1837
Lunaia S. S. Berry, 1964: synonym of Natica Scopoli, 1777
Naticina J. E. Gray, 1847: synonym of Eunaticina P. Fischer, 1885 (junior homonym, Invalid: junior homonym of Naticina Guilding, 1834; Eunaticina P. Fischer, 1885 is a replacement name)
Naticus Montfort, 1810: synonym of Naticarius Duméril, 1805
Pervisinum Iredale, 1931: synonym of Eunaticina P. Fischer, 1885
Polynices Herrmannsen, 1847: synonym of Polinices Montfort, 1810 (Invalid: unjustified emendation of Polinices)
Pristinacca H. J. Finlay & Marwick, 1937: synonym of † Taniella H. J. Finlay & Marwick, 1937 (junior subjective synonym)
Propesinum Iredale, 1924: synonym of Eunaticina P. Fischer, 1885
Quantonatica Iredale, 1936: synonym of Naticarius Duméril, 1805
Ruma Gray, 1847: synonym of Mammilla Schumacher, 1817
50-second video of snails (most likely Natica chemnitzi and Cerithium muscarum) feeding on the sea floor in the Gulf of California, Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.
Naticid boring in Stewartia from the Calvert Formation, Zone 10, Calvert Co., MD (Miocene).
↑Ann M. Cameron (1966). "Some aspects of the behaviour of the soldier crab, Mictyris longicarpus". Pacific Science20 (2): 224–234.
↑ 3.03.1Huelsken, T. (2011) First evidence of drilling predation by Conuber sordidus (Swainson, 1821) (Gastropoda: Naticidae) on soldier crabs (Crustacea: Mictyridae). Molluscan Research, 31(2), 125-131. [1]
↑Bandel, K. (1999) On the origin of the carnivorous gastropod group Naticoidea (Mollusca) in the Cretaceous with description of some convergent but unrelated groups. Greifswalder Geowissenschaftliche Beiträge, 6, 134-175
↑Kabat A.R. 1991. The classification of the Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda): Review and analysis of the supraspecific taxa. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 152, 417-449.
↑Cernohorsky W.O. 1971. The family Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in the FijiIslands. Auckland Inst. Mus., 8, 169-208.
↑ 8.08.1Marincovich L.N. 1977. Cenozoic Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of the Northeastern Pacific. Bulletins of American Paleontology, 70, 169-212.
↑Bandel K. 1999. On the origin of the carnivorous gastropod group Naticoidea (Mollusca) in the Cretaceous with description of some convergent but unrelated groups. Greifswalder Geowissenschaftliche Beiträge, 6, 134-175.
↑Huelsken, T., Wägele, H., Peters, B., Mather, A., Hollmann, M. (2011) Molecular analysis of adults and egg masses reveals two independent lineages within the infaunal gastropod Naticarius onca (Röding, 1798) (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae). Molluscan Research, 31(3), 141-151. PDF
↑Majima, R. 1989. Cenozoic fossil Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in Japan. Bulletins of American Paleontology, 96 (331), 1-159.
↑Huelsken, T., Tapken, D., Dahlmann, T., Wägele, H., Riginos, C., Hollmann, M. (2012). Systematics and phylogenetic species delimitation within Polinices s.l. (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae) based on molecular data and shell morphology. Organisms Diversity & Evolution. doi:10.1007/s13127-012-0111-5.
↑Siemers C. T. & King N. R. (1974). "Macroinvertebrate paleoecology of a transgressive marine sandstone, Cliff House Sandstone (Upper Cretaceous), Chaco Canyon, northwestern New Mexico" PDF.
Further reading
Powell A. W. B. 1979. New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand ISBN0-00-216906-1
Ponder W. & Lindberg D. 1997. Towards a phylogeny of gastropod molluscs; an analysis using morphological characters. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 119: 83-265, London, ISSN 0024-4082.