| Olive Snail | |
|---|---|
| Shells of Lettered olive, Oliva sayana | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Olivoidea |
| Family: | Olividae Latreille, 1825 |
| Genera | |
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See text. |
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Olive shells, olive snails, or olives, scientific name Olividae, are a family of medium to large predatory sea snails with smooth, shiny, elongated oval-shaped shells. The shells often show various muted but attractive colors, and may be patterned also. They are marine gastropod molluscs in the family Olividae within the main clade Neogastropoda.
Also see the Olivellidae, the dwarf olives, which were previously grouped in this family, but which now have their own family.
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According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Olividae consists of three subfamilies:
Olive snails are found worldwide, in subtropical and tropical seas and oceans.
These snails are found on sandy substrates intertidally and subtidally.
The olive snails are all carnivorous sand-burrowers. They feed mostly on bivalves and carrion and are known as some of the fastest burrowers among snails. They secrete a mucus similar to that of the Muricidae, from which a purple dye can be made.
Physically the shells are oval and cylindrical in shape. They have a well-developed stepped spire. Olive shells have a siphonal notch at the posterior end of the long narrow aperture. The siphon of the living animal protrudes from the siphon notch.
The shell surface is extremely glossy because in life the mantle almost always covers the shell.[1][2]
Olive shells first appeared during the Campanian.[3]
Olive shells are popular with shell collectors, and are also often made into jewelry and other decorative items.
The shell of the lettered olive, Oliva sayana, is the state shell of South Carolina in the United States.
Genera within the family Olividae include: