Cart-rut Shell
Scientific name: Dicathais orbita
Click to enlarge image
Cart-rut shell and egg capsules, Dicathais orbita
Image: Dr Isobel Bennett
© Australian Museum
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Dicathais
- Species
- orbita
- Subfamily
- Rapaninae
- Family
- Muricidae
- Super Family
- Muricoidea
- Order
- Neogastropoda
- Subclass
- Caenogastropoda
- Class
- Gastropoda
- Phylum
- Mollusca
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Size Range
- 7-8 cm
When it was first discovered, this species was named the Cart-rut Shell because the grooves resembled the narrow, deep wheel ruts of the horse-and-carriage vehicles of the day.
Identification
The Cart-rut Shell is a large white snail with deep, parallel ridges or grooves in its shell.
Habitat
The Cart-rut Shell lives on intertidal rock platforms.
Distribution
The Cart-rut Shell is found in Southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia to Western Australia.
Other behaviours and adaptations
The Cart-rut Shell has a canal at the front edge of its shell, through which it siphons water to detect its prey.
