Sinistrofulgur perversum

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Sinistrofulgur perversum
Busycon-contrarium.jpg
Sinistrofulgur perversum found in France, with the operculum in place
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Busyconidae
Genus: Sinistrofulgur
Species:
S. perversum
Binomial name
Sinistrofulgur perversum
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Repartition-busycon-contrarium2.jpg
Range
Synonyms

Sinistrofulgur perversum, the lightning whelk, is a species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell. It eats mostly bivalves.

Contents

There has been some disagreement about the correct scientific name for this species, which has been confused with Sinistrofulgur sinistrum Hollister, 1958, and Busycon contrarium (Conrad, 1840), which is an exclusively fossil species. [1] [2]

Distribution

This marine species is native to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and southeastern North America, from New Jersey south to Florida and the Gulf states.

Habitat

Lightning whelks can be found in the sandy or muddy substrate of shallow embayments.

Life habits

This whelk species feeds primarily on marine bivalves, ingesting their soft parts using its proboscis.

Sinistrofulgur perversum and Busycon carica

This species shares many characteristics with another species, the knobbed whelk Busycon carica , but there are some important differences:[ citation needed ]

Human use

For thousands of years Native Americans used these animals as food, and used their shells for tools, ornaments, containers and to make jewelry, i.e. shell gorgets. [3] For example, the Indigenous peoples of Florida used their shells as hammers, axes, and cups; Floridan archaeologists have likened them to Swiss Army knives for their versatility. [4] They may have believed the sinistral nature of the lightning whelk shell made it a sacred object. The Minnesota Woman (lived c. 6000 BCE in modern Minnesota) wore a Sinistrofulgur perversum shell. [5]

The lightning whelk is the "State Seashell of Texas". [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whelk</span> Common name that is applied to various kinds of sea snail

Whelks are any of several carnivorous sea snail species with a swirling, tapered shell. Many are eaten by humans, such as the common whelk of the North Atlantic. Most whelks belong to the family Buccinidae and are known as "true whelks." Others, such as the dog whelk, belong to several sea snail families that are not closely related.

<i>Triplofusus giganteus</i> Species of tulip snail - the horse conch

Triplofusus giganteus, commonly known as the Florida horse conch, or the giant horse conch, is a species of extremely large predatory subtropical and tropical sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Fasciolariidae, the spindle snails, tulip snails and their allies. On average, it weighs over 11 pounds (5.0 kg).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knobbed whelk</span> Species of gastropod

The knobbed whelk is a species of very large predatory sea snail, or in the US, a whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks.

<i>Busycotypus canaliculatus</i> Species of gastropod

Busycotypus canaliculatus, commonly known as the channeled whelk, is a very large predatory sea snail, a marine prosobranch gastropod, a busycon whelk, belonging to the family Busyconidae.

<i>Busycon</i> Genus of busyconinin gastropods

Busycon is a genus of very large edible sea snails in the subfamily Busyconinae. These snails are commonly known in the United States as whelks or Busycon whelks. Less commonly they are loosely, and somewhat misleadingly, called "conchs".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakshinavarti shankha</span> Sacred conch shell in Hinduism

Dakshinavarti shankha, also referred to as Valampuri shankhu and Sri Lakshmi shankha is a sacred Hindu conch. It refers to the shell of a large sea snail from the Indian Ocean, but one that has a rare reverse-turning spiral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sea snail</span> Common name for snails that normally live in saltwater

Sea snails are slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the absence of a visible shell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Woman</span> 8,000 year old skeleton found in Minnesota, USA

Minnesota Woman, also known as Pelican Rapids-Minnesota Woman, is the skeletal remains of a woman thought to be 8,000 years old. The bones were found near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota on June 16, 1931, during construction on U.S. Route 59. The bones were brought to Albert Jenks at the University of Minnesota, who identified them as the bones of a girl who was 15 or 16 years old, but who had never borne children. The girl had two artifacts—a dagger made from an elk's horn and a conch shell pendant. The conch shell came from a whelk species known as Sinistrofulgur perversum, which had previously only been known to exist in Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buccinidae</span> Family of large sea snails

The Buccinidae are a very large and diverse taxonomic family of large sea snails, often known as whelks or true whelks.

<i>Sinistrofulgur contrarium</i> Extinct species of gastropod

Sinistrofulgur contrarium is a fossil snail species of the busycon whelks in the family Busyconidae. There has been some confusion about the correct taxonomy of this species, which has been confused with the extant species Sinistrofulgur sinistrum Hollister, 1958, and Sinistrofulgur perversum

<i>Busycotypus</i> Genus of gastropods

Busycotypus is a genus of very large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Busycotypinae.

<i>Turbinella pyrum</i> Species of gastropod

Turbinella pyrum, common names the chank shell, sacred chank or chank, also known as the divine conch or referred to simply as a conch, is a species of very large sea snail with a gill and an operculum, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinellidae. This species occurs in the Indian Ocean.

<i>Stramonita haemastoma</i> Species of gastropod

Stramonita haemastoma, common name the red-mouthed rock shell or the Florida dog winkle, is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Muricidae, the rock snails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shell gorget</span> Form of Native American art

Shell gorgets are a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated.

<i>Mulinia lateralis</i> Species of bivalve

Mulinia lateralis, the dwarf surf clam or coot clam, is a species of small saltwater clam, a bivalve mollusc in the family Mactridae. It occurs in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thinstripe hermit crab</span> Species of crustacean

The thinstripe hermit crab, Clibanarius vittatus, is a species of hermit crab in the family Diogenidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Busyconinae</span> Subfamily of gastropods

The Busyconinae are taxonomic subfamily of large sea snails, often known as whelks. The name "whelk" also refers to Buccinidae. Busyconinae consists of Recent and fossil species.

<i>Sinistrofulgur</i> Genus of gastropods

Sinistrofulgur is a genus of large sea snails with left-handed shell-coiling, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Busyconinae.

<i>Sinistrofulgur sinistrum</i> Species of gastropod

Sinistrofulgur sinistrum is an edible species of large predatory sea snail in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks.

<i>Fulguropsis spirata</i> Species of sea snail

Fulguropsis spirata, commonly known as pear whelk, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks. The species is also occasionally referred to as the Gulf pear whelk to differentiate it from other Fulguropsis species which are also referred to as pear whelks. It is an edible mollusc found in areas from the Caribbean to the Western Gulf of Mexico. The species was previously thought to range through the entire Gulf of Mexico down the Florida Peninsula and as far north as North Carolina in the Atlantic. The species is generally not found East of the Mississippi Delta, and any Fulguropsis found Eastward from said delta are most likely of the species Fulguropsis pyruloides. As a result many records of F. pyruloides from the aforementioned regions are falsely labelled as F. spirata.

References

  1. J. Wise, M. G. Harasewych, R. T. Dillon Jr. (2004). Population divergence in the sinistral whelks of North America, with special reference to the east Florida ecotone Archived 2012-08-24 at the Wayback Machine (PDF; 673 kB). Marine Biology 145, pp. 1167–1179.
  2. Sartori, A. (2014). Busycon contrarium (Conrad, 1840) . World Register of Marine Species. Accessed on 2014-06-06
  3. Starr F. 1897. A Shell Gorget from Mexico. Proceeding Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, volume VI. 173-178.
  4. "Archaeological Shells of Florida" (PDF). Florida Public Archaeology Network. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  5. "TimePieces: Trade". Minnesota Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2004-11-06. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
  6. Hatch, Rosie (Ed.) (2022). Texas Almanac 2022-2023. Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical Association. p. 23. ISBN   9781625110664.