Polinices lewisii
From ize
| Taxonomy | |
|---|---|
| Kingdom: Animalia | |
| Phylum: Mollusca | |
| Class: Gastropoda | |
| Order: Mesogastropoda | |
| Family: Naticidae | |
| Genus: Polinices | |
| Species: P. lewisii |
Contents |
Common Names
Lewis's Moonsnail, Lewis' moon-shell, northern moon snail, western moon shell, moon snail, Lewis's moon
Size
Being the largest of the moon snails, the shell can reach up to 14 cm across, but its body can appear quite larger than that.
Range
P. lewisii can be found from s. Alaska all the way to n. Mexico, as well as Japan.
Habitat
Found intertidally to 180 m, usually in the substrate looking for its prey.
Description
The moon snail's most distinguishing characteristic is probably its extremely large foot which usually extends up over the shell and mantle cavity. Part of the propodium contains a black-tipped siphon which leads water into the mantle cavity. The cephalic tentacles, located on its head, are usually visible above the propodium.
Diet
P. lewisii feeds mainly on bivalve molluscs by drilling a hole in the shell with its radula and feeding on the organism's soft parts.
Reproduction
P. lewisii lay their eggs in the core of a "sand collar". The eggs may number in the thousands and hatch into microscopic larvae which then swim and feed on plankton until they undergo torsion and metamorphose into small versions of the adult P. lewisii.
Works Cited
Brusca, Richard C., and Brusca, Gary J. Invertebrates. 2nd. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc., 2003.
Nybakken, James W. Diversity of the Invertebrates. Dubuque, IA: Times Mirror Higher Education Group, Inc., 1996.
Lamb, A. and Hanby, B. P. (2005). Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest: A Photographic Encyclopedia of Invertebrates, Seaweeds, and Selected Fishes. Maderia Park, B. C. Harbour Publishing.
