| Tegula funebralis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Vetigastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Trochoidea |
| Family: | Turbinidae |
| Subfamily: | Tegulinae |
| Genus: | Tegula |
| Species: | T. funebralis |
| Binomial name | |
| Tegula funebralis (A. Adams, 1855) |
|
The black turban snail, scientific name Tegula funebralis, is a species of medium-sized sea snail with gills and an operculum, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Turbinidae.
This is an Eastern Pacific Ocean species.
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The species is found along the Pacific coast of North America from Vancouver Island to the central part of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.
Most adult individuals of this species have shells which are 20 to 40 mm (or about an inch, to an inch and three quarters) in diameter.
Empty shells of this species are very often used by hermit crabs, especially Pagurus samuelis.[1]
In 1971 a new sense organ was discovered in this marine snail. Chemoreceptor organs were found near the base on the border of the leaflets of the ctenidium (comb-like respiratory gills), one on each leaflet. They form a light swelling near the base of the leaflet with a pocket lying within the swelling. Together they are termed a "bursicle". [2]
The species is found in the rocky intertidal zone, where these snails graze on algae, microscopic films, and wrack. Small juveniles are found mostly under rocks and among coarse sands.[3]
Tegula funebralis is sexually dimorphic, not hermaphroditic. These snails may live as long as twenty or thirty years.[4]
When fleeing a predator on a sloping substrate, the snail may simply detach itself and thus it will roll or drop away.
Predators of Tegula funebralis include sea otters, and predatory starfish such as Pisaster ochraceous.
The black turban snail was harvested in the Early Period by the Native American peoples.[5]