Telescopium telescopium
Encyclopedia
Telescopium telescopium is a species
of sea snail
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family
Potamididae
.
Features: 8-15cm. The largest of our Horn snails, the heavy conical shell is actually beautifully marked but the patterns are usually hidden by mud and other encrusting animals. The outer lip is thin and not flared. Operculum small and circular. The animal is velvety black with a highly extendible proboscis. There is a third eye on its mantle margin, in addition to a pair of eyes at the tentacles. It can stay out of water for long periods of time.
What does it eat? Rodong sucks up detritus and algae from the mud surface at low tide, using its proboscis.
Human uses: It is eaten and is said to be delicious when steamed and eaten with chilli. It is gathered for food in Southeast Asia and often sold in traditional markets.
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 sea snail
Sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....
, a marine 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...
Potamididae
Potamididae
Potamididae, common name potamidids , are a family of small to large brackish water snails living in mangroves, gastropod molluscs of the clade Sorbeoconcha. Traditionally, potamidids and batillariids have been confused with each other for having similar shells and living in a similar environment...
.
Description
This large snail is about the size and shape of an ice-cream cone! It is commonly seen in our mangroves, on mud, sometimes in the hundreds covering a large area. It is also called 'Rodong' or 'Berongan' in Malay.Features: 8-15cm. The largest of our Horn snails, the heavy conical shell is actually beautifully marked but the patterns are usually hidden by mud and other encrusting animals. The outer lip is thin and not flared. Operculum small and circular. The animal is velvety black with a highly extendible proboscis. There is a third eye on its mantle margin, in addition to a pair of eyes at the tentacles. It can stay out of water for long periods of time.
What does it eat? Rodong sucks up detritus and algae from the mud surface at low tide, using its proboscis.
Human uses: It is eaten and is said to be delicious when steamed and eaten with chilli. It is gathered for food in Southeast Asia and often sold in traditional markets.
External links
- Datta U., Hembram M. L., Roy S. & Mukherjee P. (2009). "Natural Biomolecules from Marine Snail Telescopium telescopium and structure of its sperm: A Phylogenetic Study". Nature PrecedingsNature PrecedingsNature Precedings is an open access electronic preprint repository of scholarly work in the fields of biomedical sciences, chemistry, and earth sciences. Submissions to Nature Precedings are not peer reviewed...