Cassidae
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Cassidae is a family of large marine gastropod snails of the Sorbeoconcha order, often called "helmet shells". The family Cassidae contains medium to large size shells which occur in tropical and temperate seas. There are about 60 species, most of which occur from the intertidal down to about 100 m in depth. Members of this family are renowned for great shell variability, which is particularly evident in two New South Wales species, Semicassis pyrum and Semicassis labiatum. This has lead to a number of variants being described as species, subspecies and forms, some of which still require investigation to determine their exact relationships.
Most helmet shells live buried in the sand by day, coming out at night to feed on echinoderms, especially sea urchins, which they can locate by smell from at least 30 cm away. They immobilise the urchin, crawl onto it with the thick skin of the foot providing protection from the spines, and make a hole in the urchin shell by an acidic secretion and by rasping with the radula, and suck out the soft parts.
[edit] Genera and species
- Genus Casmaria H. Adams and A. Adams, 1853
- Casmaria ponderosa perryi (Iredale,1912)
- Genus Galeodea Link,1807
- Galeodea triganceae Dell,1953
- Genus Cassis Scopoli, 1777
- Cassis cornuta Linnaeus, 1758
- Cassis flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Cassis madagascariensis Lamarck, 1822
- Cassis tuberosa (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Genus Cypraecassis Stutchbury, 1837
- Cypraecassis testiculus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Genus Oocorys P. Fischer, 1883
- Oocorys abyssorum (Verrill and Smith, 1884)
- Oocorys barbouri Clench and Aguayo, 1939
- Oocorys bartschi Rehder, 1943
- Oocorys caribbaea Clench and Aguayo, 1939
- Oocorys sulcata P. Fischer, 1883
- Oocorys verrillii (Dall, 1889)
- Genus Phalium Link, 1807
- Phalium coronadoi (Crosse, 1867)
- Phalium granulatum (Born, 1778)
- Genus Sconsia Gray, 1847
- Sconsia nephele F. M. Bayer, 1971
- Sconsia striata (Lamarck, 1816)
- Genus Semicassis Mörch,1852
- Semicassis granulata granulata (Born, 1778)
- Semicassis sophia (Brazier,1872)
- Semicassis labiata (Perry,1811)
- Semicassis pyrum (Lamarck,1822)
- Semicassis royana (Iredale,1914)
- Semicassis thomsoni (Brazier,1857)
