Tonna cumingi is a very large 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 sea snail

Sea snail

Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

, a tun snail, 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 mollusc 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...

 Tonnidae

Tonnidae

Tonnidae is a family of medium-sized to very large sea snails, known as the tun shells. These are marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Sorbeoconcha and the clade Littorinimorpha.- Taxonomy :...

, the tun shells.

Distribution

This species is found often along the southern coasts of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. Populations of animals with similar looking shells from New Zealand and Australian waters have been assimilated into this species. Occasional records indicate a possible presence of the species in Philippine waters. Further study on this species should reveal its exact distribution. (Reference: Vos, 2007 A conchological Iconography - Family Tonnidae)