Cymatium (gastropod)

Cymatium spec. in Alor, Indonesia

Cymatium, German and the fillet strip, is the name of a genus of snail from the family of Triton snails, which is represented by up to 100 kinds in all tropical regions of the oceans. The small to large snails are predators, the prey vary depending on the type.

Features

The housing of the dextral Cymatium species are like other trochospiral, not in a plane but rolled in three dimensions. The snails are much smaller than the conches ( genus Charonia ). The shapes and sizes of the housings such as the length of the Siphonalkanals there is a greater bandwidth.

Most Cymatium species live in rather shallow tropical waters, but there are also some species in temperate latitudes and depths to about 400 meters.

All Cymatium species are dioecious and have internal fertilization. The females lay from numerous egg capsules, which may contain several thousand eggs. There is no Nähreier. The veliger larvae make up to her metamorphosis through a pelagic phase, which lasts for several months in some species and so this helps to ensure a wide dissemination.

All previously studied members of the genus Cymatium are carnivores that feed on depending on the type of ascidians, tubeworms, clams, snails or echinoderms, besides also on carrion. With the help of acidic saliva, the prey is paralyzed and softened their calcareous skeleton. Some Cymatium species, in particular Cymatium muricinum, can become a problem in shellfish farms. The tiny veliger larvae of the worm can invade mussel cages designed to protect the clams from predators, and go after their metamorphosis as finished Triton snail in cage on the prowl.

While some Cymatium species are able to capture and cone snails, cone snail species occur some turn as predators of Cymatium on, including Conus textile and Conus pennaceus.

System

For the genus Cymatium about 100 species and at least 10 subtypes have been described. Recently, the genus has been divided into several smaller ones.