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Whelks are any of several carnivorous sea snail species [1] 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.
True whelks (family Buccinidae) are carnivorous, and feed on annelids, crustaceans, mussels and other molluscs, drilling holes through shells to gain access to the soft tissues. Whelks use chemoreceptors to locate their prey. [2]
Many have historically been used, or are still used, by humans and other animals as food. In a 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference serving of whelk, there are 570 kilojoules (137 kilocalories) of food energy, 24 g of protein, 0.34 g of fat, and 8 g of carbohydrates. [3]
Dog whelk, a predatory species, was used in antiquity to make a rich red dye that improves in color as it ages. [4]
The common name "whelk" is also spelled welk or even wilk.
The species, genera and families referred to by this common name vary a great deal from one geographic area to another.
In the United States, whelk refers to several large edible species in the genera Busycon and Busycotypus , which are now classified in the family Buccinidae. These are sometimes called Busycon whelks.
In addition, the unrelated invasive murex Rapana venosa is referred to as the Veined rapa whelk or Asian rapa whelk in the family Muricidae.
In Brazil, there is a very popular Afro-Brazilian divination game practiced by older women of African ancestry called jogo de búzios (game of whelks), which uses empty shells of these gastropods.
In the British Isles, Belgium and the Netherlands (wulk/wullok), the word is used for a number of species in the family Buccinidae, especially Buccinum undatum , an edible European and Northern Atlantic species.
In the British Isles, the common name "dog whelk" is used for Nucella lapillus (family Muricidae) and for Nassarius species (family Nassariidae). Historically, they were a popular street food in Victorian London, typically located close to public houses and theatres. [5]
In Scotland, the word "whelk" is also used to mean the periwinkle (Littorina littorea), family Littorinidae. [6]
In the English-speaking islands of the West Indies, the word whelks or wilks (this word is both singular and plural) is applied to a large edible top shell, Cittarium pica , also known as the magpie or West Indian top shell, family Trochidae.
In Japan, whelks (ツブ, 螺, tsubu) are frequently used in sashimi and sushi. In Vietnam, they are served in a dish called Bún ốc - vermicelli with sea snails. Golbaengi-muchim (골뱅이 무침) is a Korean dish consisting of whelks and with chili sauce in a salad with cold noodles. It has been a very popular side dish with alcohol for many generations.
In Australia and New Zealand, species of the genus Cabestana (family Ranellidae) are called predatory whelks, and species of Penion (family Buccinidae) are called siphon whelks.
A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name snail is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have a coiled shell that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into. When the word "snail" is used in this most general sense, it includes not just land snails but also numerous species of sea snails and freshwater snails. Gastropods that naturally lack a shell, or have only an internal shell, are mostly called slugs, and land snails that have only a very small shell are often called semi-slugs.
The dog whelk, dogwhelk, or Atlantic dogwinkle is a species of predatory sea snail, a carnivorous marine gastropod in the family Muricidae, the rock snails.
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.
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.
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".
Rapana venosa, common name the veined rapa whelk or Asian rapa whelk, is a species of large predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc or whelk, in the family Muricidae, the rock shells.
Sea snail is a common name for 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.
Dicathais is a genus of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Muricidae, the rock snails. This genus is monotypic; the only species in it is Dicathais orbita, common name the white rock shell or cart-rut shell, found round the coasts of Australia and New Zealand.
Haustrum haustorium, common name: the brown or dark rock shell, is a large species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
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.
Melo melo, common name the Indian volute or bailer shell, is a very large edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Volutidae, the volutes.
Cittarium pica, common name the West Indian top shell or magpie shell, is a species of large edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tegulidae. This species has a large black and white shell.
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.
Calagrassor poppei is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Eosiphonidae, the true whelks and their allies.
Nassarius circumcinctus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Nassariidae, the Nassa mud snails or dog whelks.
Sinistrofulgur sinistrum is an edible species of large predatory sea snail in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks.
Penion maximus is a species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, commonly known as giant whelk or great whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Austrosiphonidae.
Penion mandarinus, common name the mandarin penion, southern siphon whelk or Waite's buccinum whelk, is a species of medium-to-large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Austrosiphonidae.
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.