Hexaplex cichoreum

Hexaplex cichoreum
Two views of a shell of Hexaplex cichoreum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Muricoidea
Family:	Muricidae
Genus:	Hexaplex
Species:	H. cichoreum
Binomial name
Hexaplex cichoreum (Gmelin, 1791) [1]
Synonyms[2]
Chicoreus cichoreum (Gmelin, 1791) Hexaplex foliacea Perry, 1811 Hexaplex foliata Perry, 1811 Hexaplex (Hexaplex) cichoreum (Gmelin, 1791) Murex cichoreum Gmelin, 1791 Murex depressospinosus Dunker, 1869 Murex diaphanus Gmelin, 1791 Murex endivia Lamarck, 1822 Murex endivia var. albicans Tryon, 1880 Murex fasciatus Gmelin, 1791 Murex radicula Menke, 1828 Murex saxicola Broderip, 1825

Shell of Hexaplex cichoreum (Gmelin, 1791), measuring 95.6 mm in height.

Hexaplex cichoreum, common name the "endive murex", is a medium-sized species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex shells or rock snails. ^[2]

Description

The height of the oblong, fusiform shell varies between 50 mm and 150 mm. The short spire of the shell consists of eight to nine ventricose whorls that become flat-shouldered and thick with age. They are transversely ridged and striated. They show six to seven frondose varices, with the fronds elevated and recurved. The umbilicus is rather large and deep. Its color is yellowish-brown, frequently banded with a darker tint. The fronds are usually dark brown or blackish. The white, almost round aperture has a rather long, open posterior siphonal canal that gradually widens, but is narrow and turns to the right at the beginning. lips are tinged with pink. There is also an all-white variety (var. albicans) from the Philippines. ^{[3] [4]}

Distribution

This sea snail distribution is restricted to the West Pacific. Regions where it is found include Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.^[5]

References

1. Gmelin, (1791) Syst. Nat. 35, 30.
2. Houart, R. (2013). Hexaplex cichoreum (Gmelin, 1791). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=405870 on 2013-06-24
3. G.W. Tryon (1880) Manual of Conchology II, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (described as Murex endivia)
4. Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres... Par Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck, p. 583, 1843 (described as Murex endivia)
5. Poutiers, J. M. (1998). "Gastropods". In Carpenter, K. E. & Niem, V. H. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific Volume 1. Seaweeds, corals, bivalves and gastropods (PDF). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes 1. Rome: FAO. p. 562. ISBN 92-5-104052-4.

• Merle D., Garrigues B. & Pointier J.-P. (2011) Fossil and Recent Muricidae of the world. Part Muricinae. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 648 pp
• Images at gastropods.com
• A sinistral shell and a normal shell shown at jaxshells.org here:

Books

• Radwin, G. E. and A. D'Attilio, 1986. Murex shells of the world. An illustrated guide to the Muricidae. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, x + pp. 1–284 incl 192 figs. + 32 pls.