Phyllonotus pomum

Housing of Phyllonotus pomum

The apple murex, or dandruff apple ( Phyllonotus pomum ) is a snail from the family of whelks ( genus Phyllonotus ), which is widespread in the western Atlantic. It feeds mainly on mollusks.

Features

The spindle-shaped, strongly bulbous, solid shell of Phyllonotus pomum, which reaches a length of up to 12.5 cm in adult snails, has a rough and uneven surface with spirally running fine stripes and rounded keel- shaped raised bars. About the housing extending axially the three varices per use as a thick rounded beads that are occupied at the front with frills and partially raised lamellae, but supports the housing no spines. Between the ridges are each as elongated cusps, of which the rear is far greater and higher. The thread is high, almost conical and pointed. In total, the house has seven to eight curved, somewhat flattened above turns that increase slowly at first and have a depressed, slightly uneven seam. The mouth edge is a little wrinkled and just bent up at the columella, the outer lip dentate tight. The nearly round case mouth ends in a rather short, bent down Siphonalkanal, which is manned by two hollow blades. The body is brownish yellow or reddish brown with a brown band on the upper part of the turns. The beads and their fins are alternately brown and white, the columella and interior of the casing mouth ocher colored, the Columellarlippe vivid maroon and the outer lip with three maroon spots.

Phyllonotus pomum has a short radula with very strong teeth - the strongest known in the family Muricidae - with which she bore large and nearly round holes by thick calcareous shells.

Dissemination

The apple snail sting occurs in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Lesser Antilles in the Atlantic Ocean between North Carolina and northern Brazil.

Habitat

The apple murex is commonly found on soft and hard substrates such as on oyster beds. She lives in the intertidal zone and below to a depth of about 200 m.

Life cycle

Like other whelks is Phyllonotus pomum dioecious. The male mated the female with his penis. In the period from May to July to come together more than 30 females to ( average 750 ) egg capsules to attach, for example, large, empty shells together their up to 30 cm large clutch of about 240-1800 on the solid substrate. An egg capsule is by measurements in Florida an average of about 7.5 mm long, 6 mm wide and 2.5 mm thick. It contains numerous eggs, of which about 11 ( 2-5 average of 13, according to other measurements, also in Florida ) to develop 18 to snails, while the others serve as Nähreier. The development of the veliger stage takes place in the egg capsule, so that finished worm hatch.

Food

Phyllonotus pomum eats especially mussels whose shell is pierced with the radula when exposed to acids. Through the drilled hole the worm performs its proboscis to the meat of the sacrifice. The preferred prey species include large oyster Crassostrea virginica specimens of whose population dynamics are influenced by the screw.

Relevance to humans

Phyllonotus pomum, long time under the original name of Murex pomum Gmelin known is collected because of its housing. The meat is eaten raw or cooked.

As an important predator of oysters Phyllonotus pomum is undesirable in mussel producers.