Animalia > Mollusca > Gastropoda > Littorinimorpha > Tonnidae

Tonnidae

Synonyms: Doliidae; Galeodoliidae; Macgillivrayiidae

Wikipedia Abstract

The Tonnidae are a family of medium-sized to very large sea snails, known as the tun shells. These are marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha. The name "tun" refers to the snails' shell shape which resembles wine casks known as "tuns". While the shells are thin, they are also strong. There is no operculum. They are found in all tropical seas, where they inhabit sandy areas. During the day, they bury themselves in the substrate, emerging at night to feed on echinoderms (especially sea cucumbers), crustaceans, and bivalves. Some larger species also capture fish, using their expandable probosces to swallow them whole. Females lay rows of eggs that become free-swimming larvae for several months before settling to the bottom.
View Wikipedia Record: Tonnidae

Genus

Ethella (1)
Eudolium (Crosse's straw tun) (10)
Gemella (1)
Malea (13)
Tonna (Giant tun) (36)

(...) = Species count

External References

Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0