Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Predators

  • Chapter
Sea Snails

Abstract

Many sea snails are predators. Prey is often detected by a long breathing tube which brings odours to a large smelling organ; prey is grasped with an extendable trunk; hooked teeth hold on to it and rip its flesh, or pointed hollow teeth stab prey and inject poison. Some Tuns (Tonnoidea) feed on sea urchins, dissolving the victim’s calcareous skeleton with acid. Moon shells (Naticoidea) glide over muddy-sandy sea floors with a foot swollen by sea water, capturing buried bivalves by digging and covering them with mucus, then boring through the valves. Hoverers (Heteropoda) hover, swim and hunt in the water column, feeding on planktonic creatures. Wentletraps and violet shells (Epitonioidea) feed on cnidarians, as external parasites of those on the sea floor or as predators of those in the water column, reached by floating beneath a bubble raft. Parasitic snails (Eulimoidea) infest echinoderms; their body may be worm-like, and without a digestive tract; reproduction is between large females and dwarf males. Whelks (Buccinoidea) often scavenge carrion, complimenting it with live prey, algae or dissolved organic matter; some suck blood of fishes and rays. Many Murexes (Muricoidea) have long breathing tubes surrounded by calcareous gutters; some bore into sessile barnacles and bivalves, others feed upon corals and may cause widespread mortality to reefs. Cones (Conoidea) kill benthic creatures with a venom-filled tooth causing the victim continuous muscle twitch or paralysis or both. Their sting may be fatal to humans.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Bandel K, Riedle F, Tiemann H (1994) The special adaptation to planktonic life in larvae of the Cassioidea (=Tonnoidea) (Gastropoda). Mar Biol 118:101–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouchet P (1989) A marginellid gastropod parasitizes sleeping fishes. Bull Mar Sci 45:76–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouchet P, Perrine D (1996) More gastropods feeding at night on parrotfishes. Bull Mar Sci 59:224–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Britton JC, Morton B (1994) Marine carrion and scavengers. Oceanogr Mar Biol 32:369–434

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown AC (1982) The biology of sandy-beach whelks of the genus Bullia (Nassariidae). Oceanogr Mar Biol 20:309–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown AC, Stenton-Dosey JM, Truman ER (1989) Sandy-beach bivalves and gastropods: a comparison between Donax serra and Bullia digitalis. Adv Mar Biol 25:179–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Carriker MR (1969) Excavation of boreholes by the gastropod Urosalpinx: an analysis by light and scanning electron microscopy. Am Zool 9:917–933

    Google Scholar 

  • Carriker MR, Williams LG (1978) The chemical mechanism of shell dissolution by predatory boring gastropods: a review and an hypothesis. Malacologia 17:143–156

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Combes C (2005) The art of being a parasite. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Comfort A (1961) On the pigment of Ianthina janthina L. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 41:313–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fretter V, Graham A (1962) British prosobranch molluscs. Ray Society, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gittenberger A, Gittenberger E (2005) A hitherto unnoticed adaptive radiation: epitoniid species (Gastropoda: Epitoniidae) associated with corals (Scleractinia). Contrib Zool 74:125–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart S (1997) Cone snail toxins take off. Bioscience 47:131–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson AN (2010) Prosobranchs with internal fertilization. In: Leonard J, Cordoba-Aguilar A (eds) The evolution of primary sexual characters in animals, Part 2. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 130–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Houbrick JR, Fretter V (1969) Some aspects of the functional anatomy and biology of Cymatium and Bursa. Proc Malacol Soc Lond 38:415–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Kantor Y (2007) How much can Conus swallow? Observations on molluscivorous species. J Molluscan Stud 73:123–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingsley-Smith PR, Richardson CA, Seed R (2003) Size-related and seasonal pattern of egg collar production in Polinices pulchellus (Gastropoda: Naticidae) Risso 1826. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 295:191–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn AJ (1961) Studies on spawning behavior, egg masses and larval development in the gastropod genus Conus. I. Observations on nine species in Hawaii. Pac Sci 14:163–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn AJ (1983) Feeding biology of the gastropods. In: Saleuddin ASM, Wilbur KM (eds) The mollusca, vol 5. Academic, New York, pp 1–63

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn AJ (1985) Evolutionary ecology of Conus on Indo-Pacific coral reefs. In: Gabrie C, Salvat B (eds) Proceedings of the fifth international coral reef congress. Tahiti, May 1985, vol 4, pp 139–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn AJ, Perron FE (1994) Life history and biogeography: patterns in Conus. Clarendon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Lalli CM, Gilmer RW (1989) Pelagic snails: the biology of holoplanktonic gastropod mollusks. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Lützen J (1972) Studies on parasitic gastropods from echinoderms. 2. On Stilifer Broderip, with special reference to the structure of the sexual apparatus and the reproduction. Biologiske Skrifte 19:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Lützen J (1976) On a new genus and two new species of Prosobranchia (Mollusca), parasitic on the tropical sea urchin Echinometra mathei. Isr J Zool 25:38–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Lützen J (1979) Studies on the life history of Enteroxenos Bonnevie, a gastropod endoparasitic in Aspidochirote holothurians. Ophelia 18:1–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lützen J, Nielsen K (1975) Contributions to the anatomy and biology of Echineulima (Prosobranchia: Eulimidae), parasitic on sea urchins. Vidensk Medd Dan Naturhist Foren 138:171–199

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller JA (1989) A toxoglossan proboscis: structure and function. J Molluscan Stud 55:167–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morton B (2012) Foregut anatomy and predation by Charonia lampas (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia: Neotaenioglossa) attacking Ophidaster ophidianus (Astroidea: Ophidiasteridae) in the Acores, with a review of triton feeding behaviour. J Nat Hist 46:41–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olivera B (2002) Conus venom peptides: reflections from the biology of clades and species. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 33:25–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan JB, McConnaughey RR, Huber ME (1987) A blood-sucking snail: the Cooper’s nutmeg, Cancellaria cooperi Gabb, parasitizes the California electric ray, Torpedo californica Ayres. Biol Bull 172:362–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Page LR, Pedersen RVK (1998) Transformation of phytoplanktivorous larvae into predatory carnivores during the development of Polinices lewisii (Mollusca, Caenogastropoda). Adv Mar Biol 117:208–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponder WF, Colgan DJ, Healy JM, Nützel A, Simone LRL, Strong EE (2008) Caenogastropoda. In: Ponder WF, Lindberg DR (eds) Phylogeny and evolution of the mollusca. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 331–383

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rick JW (2005) The evolution of authority at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. In: Vaughn KJ, Ogburn DE, Conlee CA (eds) The foundations of power in the prehispanic Andes, Archaeological papers no. 14. American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, pp 71–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson R (1980) Epitonium millecostatum and Coralliophila clathrata: two prosobranch gastropods symbiotic with Indo-Pacific Palythoa (Coelenterata: Zoanthidae). Pac Sci 34:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson R (1983a) Extraordinarily rapid postlarval growth of a tropical wentletrap (Epitonium albidum). Nautilus 97:60–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson R (1983b) Observations on the life history of the wentletrap Epitonium albidum in the West Indies. Am Malacol Bull 1:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson R (1983c) Observations on the life history of the wentletrap Epitonium echinaticostum in the Bahamas. Nautilus 97:98–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Rochette R, Tertreault F, Himmelman JH (2001) Aggregation of whelks, Buccinum undatum, near feeding predators: the role of reproductive requirements. Anim Behav 61:31–41

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scolding JWS, Ichaardson CA, Luckenbach MJ (2007) Predation of cockles (Cerastoderma edule) by the whelk (Buccinum undatum) under laboratory conditions. J Molluscan Stud 73:333–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas FIM, Kohn AJ (1990) Trophic role of co-occurring species of Drupa (Gastropoda: Muricidae) at Eniwetok Atoll (Marshall Islands, North Pacific Ocean). J Molluscan Stud 56:57–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner J (1994) The biology and population outbreaks of the corallivorous gastropod Drupella on Indo-Pacific reefs. Oceanogr Mar Biol 32:461–530

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeij GJ (1987) Evolution and escalation: an ecological history of life. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeij GJ (1993) A natural history of shells. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • West TL (1990) Feeding behavior and functional morphology of the epiproboscis of Mitra idae (Mollusca: Gastropoda; Mitridae). Bull Mar Sci 46:761–779

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Joseph Heller

Authors
  1. Joseph Heller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Heller, J. (2015). Predators. In: Sea Snails. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15452-7_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation