Tonna perdix

Tonna perdix
Dorsal view of a shell of Tonna perdix
An image of a live individual showing the siphon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:	Tonnoidea
Family:	Tonnidae
Genus:	Tonna
Species:	T. perdix
Binomial name
Tonna perdix (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1]
Buccinum perdix Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym) Cadium perdix (Linnaeus, 1758) Cadus coturnix Röding, 1798 Cadus meleagris Röding, 1798 Cadus perdix (Linnaeus, 1758) Dolium pennatum Schröter in Martini, 1788 Dolium perdix (Linnaeus, 1758) Dolium plumatum Green, 1830 Dolium rufum Blainville, 1829 Perdix reticulatus Montfort, 1810 (Unnecessary substitute name for Buccinum perdix)

Tonna perdix, common name the partridge tun, is a species of very large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tonnidae, the tun shells.^[1]

Description

The pattern and brownish colour of the shell is reminiscent of a partridge's plummage hence the common name. The size of an adult shell varies between 70 mm and 220 mm.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean off Aldabra, Chagos, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius and Tanzania, and in the Pacific Ocean off New Zealand and the Galapagos Islands.

A shell of Tonna perdix, apertural view

Biology and diet

This gastropod is a highly specialized carnivorous predator, preying on sea cucumbers.^[2]

This tun has paralyzed an Actinopyga echinites at Réunion Island, and is in the proces of eating it.

Bibliography

• Philippe Bourjon & Sébastien Vasquez (2016). "Predation by the gastropod Tonna perdix (Gastropoda: Tonnoidea) on the holothurian Actinopyga echinites (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) on a reef of Réunion" (PDF). SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin 36.
• Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). Mollusques testacés marins de Madagascar. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
• Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice
• Vos, C. (2007). A conchological Iconography (No. 13) - The family Tonnidae. 123 pp., 30 numb. plus 41 (1 col.) un-numb. text-figs, 33 maps., 63 col. pls, Conchbooks, Germany
• Spencer, H.; Marshall. B. (2009). All Mollusca except Opisthobranchia. In: Gordon, D. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume One: Kingdom Animalia. 584 pp

External links

• Gastropods.com : Tonna (Perdix complex) perdix; accessed : 26 April 2011

Further reading

• Powell A. W. B., William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1

References

1. Vos, C. (2010). Tonna perdix (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2011-04-26.
2. Philippe Bourjon & Sébastien Vasquez (2016). "Predation by the gastropod Tonna perdix (Gastropoda: Tonnoidea) on the holothurian Actinopyga echinites (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) on a reef of Réunion" (PDF). SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin 36.