Cassis tuberosa
A live C. tuberosa in situ
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Family: Cassidae
Genus: Cassis
Species:
C. tuberosa
Binomial name
Cassis tuberosa

Cassis tuberosa, the king helmet, is a species of very large sea snail with a solid, heavy shell, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cassidae, the helmet shells and their allies.[1]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Western Atlantic Ocean in: North Carolina, Florida, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, Brazil, and in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean at the Cape Verde Islands.

Ventral side, animal alive but soft parts retracted

Description

The maximum recorded shell length is 301 mm.[2] The shell of Cassis tuberosa is typically cream colored with dark brown spots. The dorsal surface will have fine growth lines and fine spiral lines to create a "canceled effect".[3]

Habitat

Its minimum recorded depth is 0 m.[2] and maximum recorded depth is 27 m.[2] It resides in shallow coastal waters around sandy beaches, as well as reef environments. It lives in tandem with seagrass beds, macroalgae banks, rhodolith beds and coral rubble.[3]

Human use

The shell of this species has been used for creating cameos.

The attractiveness of the shell is one of the main reasons C. tuberosa is taken for human use. Due to their preference of shallow waters, they are easily accessed by the locality and tourists.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Cassis tuberosa (Linnaeus, 1758). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 6 December 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
  3. 1 2 Dias et al. (2017). "What do we know about Cassis tuberosa (Mollusca: Cassidae) a heavily exploited marine gastropod?".
  4. ↑ Mota, E. L. S., Alves, R. R. da N. and Dias, T. L. P. (2020) “Fishing, trade, and local ecological knowledge of the marine gastropod, Cassis tuberosa – a target species of the international shell trade”, Ethnobiology and Conservation, 9. Available at:
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