Euspira catena

Housing of Lunatia catena

The collar - moon snail, collar Navel screw or Large navel worm ( Euspira catena, Syn Lunatia catena ) is a snail from the family of moon snails that feed on mollusks. She lives in the North Sea, in the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Features

The rounded, almost spherical shell of Lunatia catena reaching in adult snails with 6-7 whorls of up to 3 cm in length and width, has a little since elevated thread with tiered whorls, a deep navel and a very wide body handling, the most part total height occupies. The surface is smooth, the color yellow, and below the seam is located, following their spiraligem course, a series of elongated, oblique red-brown spots.

The operculum of the collar - moon snail is coiled ear -shaped and spiral.

The animal is yellowish to cream color with reddish brown spots. The head of the screw has a short snout and two flattened sensor. The big foot covered during active animal head and a portion of the housing. His Propodium serves the plowing of sandy subsoil.

The collar-shaped, formed of sand and jelly clutches ( " sand collar ") of the single-sex necklace- moon snail are about 1.5 to 2.2 mm thick. They have a diameter of about 7.3 cm and at the top of approximately 4.7 cm at the base. The approximately 1.5 to 2 mm large egg capsules each containing about 2 to 4 fertile eggs, but in addition also Nähreier. The development of the larval stages takes place in the egg capsules. The hatching juveniles, finished worm, have a housing length of about 800 microns.

Dissemination

The collar - moon snail occurs northeastern Atlantic, the North Sea to Skagerrak and the Mediterranean.

Habitat

Lunatia catena lives below the intertidal zone to depths of up to 125 meters and buries itself in the sand. The empty shells are often washed up on the beach, where the fauna not come.

Nutrition

The nocturnal Lunatia catena feeds on mussels, most notably by tellins and banded wedge, as well as snails, which are searched by digging with his foot in the sand. The prey is includes with the foot and drilled with the radula a hole in the shell. This process may take several hours and is buried in the sand instead. Drilled through the moon screw holes at one side is wider than on the other.