Turris babylonia

Turris babylonia, common name: the Babylon turrid or tower turrid, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turridae, the turrids.

Synonyms

Lophiotoma babylonia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Murex babylonius Linne, 1758
Pleurotoma babylonia Linnaeus, 1758
Pleurotoma raffrayi Tapparone-Canefri, C.E., 1878
Turris assyria Olivera, Seronay & Fedosov, 2010
Turris imperfecti RÃÂ¶ding, 1798
Turris nobilis RÃÂ¶ding, 1798
Turris pulchra RÃÂ¶ding, 1798
Turris tornatum RÃÂ¶ding, 1798

Distribution

This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean off the Philippines, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Timor; in the Indian Ocean off Mauritius and the Mascarene Basin.

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 63 mm and 100 mm. The shell shows somewhat angular whorls, caused by the greater prominence of one of the revolving ribs. Its sculpture shows large revolving ribs, with intermediate raised lines. The color of the shell is whitish, with large dark brown or nearly black spots upon the ribs.

Habitat

These tropical benthic gastropods can be found in subtidal zone on rocks and sand.

Biology

Embryos of Turris babylonia develop into free-swimming planktonic marine larvae (trochophore) and later into juvenile veligers. Adults feed on marine worms chased by means of their venom, similarly to the cone snails.

Bibliography

Rosenberg, G. 1992. Encyclopedia of Seashells. Dorset: New York. 224 pp. page(s): 103
Olivera B.M., Seronay R.A. & Fedosov A.E. (2010) Turris babylonia; re-evaluation of a species complex and description of Turris assyria, new species. Philippine Science Letters 3:46Ã¢ÂÂ58
Kilburn R.N., Fedosov A.E. & Olivera B.M. (2012) Revision of the genus Turris Batsch, 1789 (Gastropoda: Conoidea: Turridae) with the description of six new species. Zootaxa 3244: 1Ã¢ÂÂ58.