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Nassarius, common name
Common name

A common name is a name in general use within a community . A common name is not necessarily a commonly used name.Many of the conventions and traditions described in this article are based on the English language, and thus may not apply to common names in other languages....
s "nassa mud snails" (USA) or "dog whelks" (UK), is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of medium-sized sea snail
Snail

The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled animal shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails....
s, 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 molluscs in the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Nassariidae
Nassariidae

Nassariidae, common name Nassa mud snails , or dog whelks , are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Sorbeoconcha....
, the nassa mud snails or dog whelks.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m7134095",this)' onMouseout='hide("m7134095")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Species">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....
 within this genus are found worldwide.

e snails usually live on mud flats or sand flats, intertidally or subtidally.

Nassarius species are very active scavenger
Scavenger

Scavenging, or necrophagy, is a carnivorous feeding behaviour in which a predator consumes corpses or carrion that were not killed to be eaten by the predator or others of its species....
s, feeding on such things as dead fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
, etc.






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Nassarius, common name
Common name

A common name is a name in general use within a community . A common name is not necessarily a commonly used name.Many of the conventions and traditions described in this article are based on the English language, and thus may not apply to common names in other languages....
s "nassa mud snails" (USA) or "dog whelks" (UK), is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of medium-sized sea snail
Snail

The word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled animal shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails....
s, 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 molluscs in the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
 Nassariidae
Nassariidae

Nassariidae, common name Nassa mud snails , or dog whelks , are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Sorbeoconcha....
, the nassa mud snails or dog whelks.

Distribution

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....
 within this genus are found worldwide.

Habitat

These snails usually live on mud flats or sand flats, intertidally or subtidally.

Life habits

Most Nassarius species are very active scavenger
Scavenger

Scavenging, or necrophagy, is a carnivorous feeding behaviour in which a predator consumes corpses or carrion that were not killed to be eaten by the predator or others of its species....
s, feeding on such things as dead fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
, etc. They often burrow into marine substrate
Substrate (biology)

In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon. The substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives above the algae on the rock....
s and then wait with their siphon sticking out into the water, until they smell nearby food.

Shell description

These snails have oval shells which have a relatively high spire and a siphonal notch.

Anatomy

The animal has a long siphon.

Human use


Modern information

Nassarius vibex is a species which is often selected for marine aquaria
Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. fishkeeping use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants....
. It is often confused with Nassarius obsoletus, a cooler water snail less suited to tropical marine aquarium temperatures.

The shells of various species of Nassarius are popular with shell collectors, and are sometimes used in jewellry and other forms of decoration.

Archeological information

Several beads made from Nassarius gibbosulus shells are thought to be the earliest known forms of personal adornment, or even jewelry. Two shell beads found in Skhul Cave
Es Skhul

Es Skhul is a cave site situated c. 20 kilometers south of the Israeli town of Haifa, and c. 3 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The site, believed to be prehistoric, was first excavated by Dorothy Garrod in the summer of 1928....
 on the slopes of Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel

Mount Carmel is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations on Mt....
, Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
 are thought to be 100,000 years old, whilst another found at Oued Djebbana, Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
 is believed to be 90,000 years old. A further group of pierced shells, some with red ochre
Ochre

Ochre or Ocher is a color, usually described as Gold -yellow or light yellow brown....
, has been recovered from the Aterian
Aterian

The Aterian archaeological industry is a name given by archaeologists to a type of stone tool manufacturing dating to the Middle Stone Age in the region around the Atlas Mountains and the northern Sahara....
 levels at Grotte des Pigeons, Taforalt, Morocco; these Nassarius gibbosulus beads have been securely dated to about 82,000 years ago.

All these examples predate several 75,000 year old Nassarius kraussianus beads which were found at Blombos Cave
Blombos Cave

Blombos Cave is a cave in a limestone cliff on the Southern Cape coast in South Africa. It is an archaeology site made famous by the discovery there of two pieces of ochre engraved with abstract designs, 75,000-year-old beads made from Nassarius shells, and c....
, South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
 (including some colored with red ochre
Ochre

Ochre or Ocher is a color, usually described as Gold -yellow or light yellow brown....
). These beads had previously been thought to be the oldest examples of jewelry.

Species

Species in the genus Nassarius include:
  • Nassarius acutus (Say
    Thomas Say

    Thomas Say was an United States natural history, entomologist, malacologist and carcinologist. He was a taxonomist and is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States and one of the founding fathers of the Entomological Society of America ....
    , 1822)     - sharp nassa
  • Nassarius albus (Say
    Thomas Say

    Thomas Say was an United States natural history, entomologist, malacologist and carcinologist. He was a taxonomist and is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States and one of the founding fathers of the Entomological Society of America ....
    , 1826)     - antilles nassa, white nassa
  • Nassarius angulicostis (Pilsbry and Lowe, 1932)
  • Nassarius antillarum (d'Orbigny, 1842) - Antilles nassa
  • Nassarius aoteanus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Nassarius arcularius Finlay
    Harold John Finlay

    Harold John Finlay was a New Zealand palaeontologist and conchology.Finlay was born in Comilla, India , on 22 March 1901, the son of David Finlay and his wife, Emma Matilda n?e Thomson, Baptist missionaries from New Zealand....
    , 1927
  • Nassarius catallus (Dall, 1908)
  • Nassarius cerritensis (Arnold, 1903)


  • Nassarius consensus (Ravenel, 1861) - striate nassa
  • Nassarius crematus (Hinds, 1844)
  • Nassarius cremmatus
  • Nassarius delosi (Woodring, 1946)
  • Nassarius ephamillus (Watson, 1882)
  • Nassarius fossatus (Gould, 1850) - channeled nassa
  • Nassarius fraterculus (Dunker, 1860) - Japanese nassa
  • Nassarius gallegosi Strong and Hertlein, 1937
  • Nassarius gibbosulus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Nassarius glans particeps (Hedley
    Charles Hedley

    Charles Hedley was a Natural science, active in Australia....
    , 1915)
  • Nassarius graniferus
    Nassarius graniferus

    Nassarius graniferus, common name the granulated dog whelk or granulated nassa, is a species of sea snail with an operculum , a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Nassariidae, the mud snails or dog whelks....
  • Nassarius guaymasensis (Pilsbry and Lowe, 1932)
  • Nassarius hotessieri (d'Orbigny, 1845) - miniature nassa
  • Nassarius howardae Chace, 1958
  • Nassarius incrassatus (Stroem, 1768)
  • Nassarius insculptus (Carpenter
    Phillip Pearsall Carpenter

    Philip Pearsall Carpenter was a noted conchology, swimming instructor, teacher, minister, and social reformer.Philip was born in Bristol on 4 November 1819, his father being Lant Carpenter....
    , 1864)     - smooth western nassa
  • Nassarius iodes (Dall, 1917)
  • Nassarius limacinus (Dall, 1917)
  • Nassarius luteostoma Broderip and Sowerby, 1829
  • Nassarius mendicus (Gould, 1850) - lean western nassa
  • Nassarius miser (Dall, 1908)
  • Nassarius moestus (Hinds, 1844)
  • Nassarius nanus
  • Nassarius nigrolabra (Verrill
    Addison Emery Verrill

    Addison Emery Verrill was an United States zoologist. He studied under Louis Agassiz at Harvard University and graduated in 1862. He then accepted a position as Yale University's first Professor of Zoology, and taught there from 1864 until his retirement in 1907....
    , 1880)
  • Nassarius obsoletus
    Nassarius obsoletus

    The eastern mudsnail, Nassarius obsoletus, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Nassariidae, the nassa mud snails....
     (Say
    Thomas Say

    Thomas Say was an United States natural history, entomologist, malacologist and carcinologist. He was a taxonomist and is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States and one of the founding fathers of the Entomological Society of America ....
    , 1822)     - eastern mudsnail
  • Nassarius olomea Kay, 1979
  • Nassarius onchodes (Dall, 1917)
  • Nassarius pagodus (Reeve, 1844)
  • Nassarius papillosus (Gould, 1850)
  • Nassarius perpinguis (Hinds, 1844) - fat western nassa
  • Nassarius polygonatus (Lamarck
    Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

    Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de la Marck, usually known as Lamarck, was a France soldier, natural history, academia and an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with Naturalism ....
    , 1822)
  • Nassarius pygmaeus Lamarck
    Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

    Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de la Marck, usually known as Lamarck, was a France soldier, natural history, academia and an early proponent of the idea that evolution occurred and proceeded in accordance with Naturalism ....
    , 1822
  • Nassarius reticulatus
    Nassarius reticulatus

    Nassarius reticulatus, common name the "netted dog whelk" is a species of small European sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Nassariidae, the dog whelks or nassa mud snails....
     (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Nassarius rhinetes S.S. Berry
    Samuel Stillman Berry

    Samuel Stillman Berry was a United States marine zoologist specialized on cephalopods.He was born in Unity, Maine , but the family home was the Winnecook Ranch in Montana, which had been founded by his father Ralph in 1880....
    , 1953     - California nassa
  • Nassarius scissuratus (Dall, 1889) - carved nassa
  • Nassarius shaskyi Mclean, 1970
  • Nassarius spiratus (A. Adams
    Arthur Adams

    Arthur Adams may refer to:*Arthur Adams , an Australian rules footballer*Arthur Adams , English physician and naturalist*Arthur Henry Adams , New Zealand writer...
    , 1852)
  • Nassarius splendidulus (Dunker, 1846)
  • Nassarius tiarula
    Nassarius tiarula

    Nassarius tiarula, common name the western mud nassa, is a species of small sea snail with gills and an operculum , a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Nassariidae, the nassa mud snails or dog whelks....
     (Kiener, 1841) - western mud nassa
  • Nassarius trivittatus (Say
    Thomas Say

    Thomas Say was an United States natural history, entomologist, malacologist and carcinologist. He was a taxonomist and is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States and one of the founding fathers of the Entomological Society of America ....
    , 1822)     - threeline mudsnail
  • Nassarius versicolor (C. B. Adams, 1852)
  • Nassarius vibex (Say
    Thomas Say

    Thomas Say was an United States natural history, entomologist, malacologist and carcinologist. He was a taxonomist and is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States and one of the founding fathers of the Entomological Society of America ....
    , 1822)     - bruised nassa


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