MURICIDAE

Family MURICIDAE

Family: MURICIDAE

Reference of figure

MURICIDAE

Muricidae is the largest and very diverse family among marine snails with over 16000 valid species. They are mostly predatory and prey upon invertebrates including other mollusks and barnacles. Some species obtaining food by drilling a small circular hole in the shell of their prey. Muricids are usually ornamented with long spines or well developed wings. They are commonly known as murex snails or rock snails. Most species are fusiform in shape and some species with limpet-shaped and elongate forms. The aperture is typically open and ovate in outline. They are most common in tropical and subtropical shallow waters. Most muricids have very beautiful shells which are considered attractive by marine biologists and shell collectors.

See MURICIDAE samples in Museum Main Hall

murex

Murex

Taxon Details

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Gastropoda

Subclass: Caenogastropoda

Order: Neogastropoda

Superfamily: Conoidea

Family: MURICIDAE


References:

Image references are already available below each image

Author:

Dr. Nabavi, Seyyed Mohammad Bagher
Professor of marine biology


See MURICIDAE samples in Museum Main Hall

See general and scientific articles related to seashells in publications page