Strombus pugilis
Encyclopedia
Strombus pugilis, common name
s the fighting conch, or the West Indian fighting conch, is a species
of medium to large sea snail
, a marine
gastropod mollusk in the family
Strombidae
, the true conch
s.
S. pugilis is closely similar to Strombus alatus
, the Florida fighting conch. It is unsettled whether they are distinct species or merely subspecies.
The maximum recorded shell
length is 110 mm or up to 130 mm, commonly to 90 mm.
Like other species in the same genus, Strombus pugilis has a robust, somewhat heavy and solid shell, with a characteristic stromboid notch. It has a well-developed body whorl
and a short and pointed spire
. It presents 8 to 9 whorl
s, each of them having a single row of subsutural spines, becoming larger towards the last whorl. These spines, however, may be less conspicuous or even absent in some populations. Its aperture
is relatively long and slightly oblique. The posterior angle of the outer lip is distinct, projecting in the posterior direction in an erect fashion. The operculum
is sickle-shaped, similar to several other Strombus
snails.
The shell color varies from salmon-pink, cream or yellow to light or strong orange, and the interior of the aperture
is usually white. The anterior end presents a dark purple stain, which is one of the diagnostic characters of this species, and is absent in Strombus alatus
.
This species is closely similar to Strombus alatus
, which has a more northerly range. Strombus alatus shells have less prominent subsutural spines and a slightly more projected outer lip. Some scientists have treated the two as distinct species; others as subspecies
. In an extensive study of the Stromboidea in 2005, Simone provisionally treated these as distinct species, but observed that “no spectacular morphological difference was found [and] all related differences, even those of the genital system, can be regarded as extreme of variation of a single, wide distributed, variable species.”
, southeastern Florida
, the Caribbean Sea
, and south to Brazil
.
based on sequences of nuclear histone H3
gene and mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I
(COI) gene showing phylogenetic relationships of (32 analyzed) species in the genus Strombus and Lambis
, including Strombus pugilis, was proposed by Latiolais et al (2006). In this hypothesis, Strombus pugilis and Strombus alatus
apparently share a common ancestor, and are possibly close related.
to depths between 2 and 10 m.
Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. Maximum recorded depth is 55 m.
. Studies indicate that some populations of Strombus pugilis may reproduce throughout the year.
, feeding on plants and algae
.
Strombus pugilis is used as a zootherapeutical product for the treatment of sexual impotence in the traditional Brazilian medicine
of the Northeast region of Brazil
.
The shell is commonly used as a decorative item, and is sold in local markets as a souvenir.
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
s the fighting conch, or the West Indian fighting conch, is a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of medium to large sea snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, a marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
gastropod mollusk in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Strombidae
Strombidae
Strombidae, commonly known as the true conchs, is a taxonomic family of medium-sized to very large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Stromboidea....
, the true conch
Conch
A conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....
s.
S. pugilis is closely similar to Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus, common name the "Florida fighting conch" is a species of medium-sized warm-water sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs.- Distribution :...
, the Florida fighting conch. It is unsettled whether they are distinct species or merely subspecies.
Shell description
Gastropod shell
The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...
length is 110 mm or up to 130 mm, commonly to 90 mm.
Like other species in the same genus, Strombus pugilis has a robust, somewhat heavy and solid shell, with a characteristic stromboid notch. It has a well-developed body whorl
Body whorl
Body whorl is part of the morphology of a coiled gastropod mollusk.- In gastropods :In gastropods, the body whorl, or last whorl, is the most recently-formed and largest whorl of a spiral or helical shell, terminating in the aperture...
and a short and pointed spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
. It presents 8 to 9 whorl
Whorl (mollusc)
A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the...
s, each of them having a single row of subsutural spines, becoming larger towards the last whorl. These spines, however, may be less conspicuous or even absent in some populations. Its aperture
Gastropod shell
The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...
is relatively long and slightly oblique. The posterior angle of the outer lip is distinct, projecting in the posterior direction in an erect fashion. The operculum
Operculum (gastropod)
The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...
is sickle-shaped, similar to several other Strombus
Strombus
Strombus, common name the true conchs, is a genus of medium to large sea snails with an operculum, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Strombidae, the true conchs and their immediate relatives....
snails.
The shell color varies from salmon-pink, cream or yellow to light or strong orange, and the interior of the aperture
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...
is usually white. The anterior end presents a dark purple stain, which is one of the diagnostic characters of this species, and is absent in Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus, common name the "Florida fighting conch" is a species of medium-sized warm-water sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs.- Distribution :...
.
This species is closely similar to Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus, common name the "Florida fighting conch" is a species of medium-sized warm-water sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs.- Distribution :...
, which has a more northerly range. Strombus alatus shells have less prominent subsutural spines and a slightly more projected outer lip. Some scientists have treated the two as distinct species; others as subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
. In an extensive study of the Stromboidea in 2005, Simone provisionally treated these as distinct species, but observed that “no spectacular morphological difference was found [and] all related differences, even those of the genital system, can be regarded as extreme of variation of a single, wide distributed, variable species.”
Distribution
Strombus pugilis lives in BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, southeastern Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
, and south to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Phylogeny
A cladogramCladogram
A cladogram is a diagram used in cladistics which shows ancestral relations between organisms, to represent the evolutionary tree of life. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters, DNA and RNA sequencing data and computational...
based on sequences of nuclear histone H3
Histone H3
Histone H3 is one of the five main histone proteins involved in the structure of chromatin in eukaryotic cells. Featuring a main globular domain and a long N-terminal tail, H3 is involved with the structure of the nucleosomes of the 'beads on a string' structure...
gene and mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I
Main subunit of cytochrome c oxidase
Cytochrome C and Quinol oxidase polypeptide I is main subunit of cytochrome c oxidase complex.Cytochrome c oxidase is a key enzyme in aerobic metabolism. Proton pumping heme-copper oxidases represent the terminal, energy-transfer enzymes of respiratory chains in prokaryotes and eukaryotes...
(COI) gene showing phylogenetic relationships of (32 analyzed) species in the genus Strombus and Lambis
Lambis
Lambis is a genus of large sea snails sometimes known as spider conchs, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Strombidae, the true conch family...
, including Strombus pugilis, was proposed by Latiolais et al (2006). In this hypothesis, Strombus pugilis and Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus
Strombus alatus, common name the "Florida fighting conch" is a species of medium-sized warm-water sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs.- Distribution :...
apparently share a common ancestor, and are possibly close related.
Habitat
This sea snail lives on sandy and muddy bottoms, from the intertidal zoneIntertidal zone
The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...
to depths between 2 and 10 m.
Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. Maximum recorded depth is 55 m.
Life cycle
During a long period in the initial stages of its development, the Strombus pugilis larvae feed mainly on planktonPlankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
. Studies indicate that some populations of Strombus pugilis may reproduce throughout the year.
Feeding habits
Strombus pugilis is known to be an herbivoreHerbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
, feeding on plants and algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
.
Human uses
The flesh of Strombus pugilis is edible. It is usually cooked by boiling, and is consumed by local fishermen.Strombus pugilis is used as a zootherapeutical product for the treatment of sexual impotence in the traditional Brazilian medicine
Traditional Brazilian medicine
Traditional Brazilian medicine includes many native South American elements, and imported African ones. It is predominant where indigenous groups and among the black-Native American mestizo population, and in the Northeast coast, nearly all interior regions including Amazon regions, savannahs,...
of the Northeast region of Brazil
Northeast Region, Brazil
The Northeast Region of Brazil is composed of the following states: Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, and it represents 18.26% of the Brazilian territory....
.
The shell is commonly used as a decorative item, and is sold in local markets as a souvenir.