The Spotted Auger, Marlinspike Auger – Oxymeris maculata is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Terebridae, commonly known as auger snails. It is a relatively common and easily identifiable species due to its distinctive markings and shape.
Description & Characteristics
The Oxymeris maculata is a slender, elongated snail with a pointed spire. Its shell can reach a maximum size of around 70 mm in length. The shell’s color is typically white or pale brown with numerous dark brown spots, giving it its name. The shell surface is smooth and glossy, with fine, spiral lines. The aperture, or opening of the shell, is narrow and elongated. It has a siphonal canal, a tube-like extension at the bottom of the aperture, which is used to draw water into the mantle cavity for respiration.
Habitat and Occurrence
The Oxymeris maculata is found in a variety of marine environments, including sandy bottoms, seagrass beds, and coral reefs. It can be found in both shallow and deep water, with a depth range of 0 to 50 meters. The Spotted Auger, Marlinspike Auger typically inhabits the tropical and subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean, from North Carolina to Brazil, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. This distribution places it within the neritic zone, the shallow water area of the ocean extending from the shoreline to the edge of the continental shelf.
Taxonomy
The species Oxymeris maculata belongs to the Class: Gastropoda, Order: Neogastropoda, and Family: Terebridae. The Gastropoda is the largest and most diverse class within the phylum Mollusca, encompassing snails, slugs, limpets, and nudibranchs. The Neogastropoda order includes a wide variety of predatory marine snails, characterized by a well-developed siphon and a strong operculum. The Terebridae family, commonly known as auger snails, is a diverse group of predatory snails with a distinctive, elongated, and pointed shell.
Feeding
The Spotted Auger, Marlinspike Auger – Oxymeris maculata is a carnivorous, predatory snail. Its diet consists primarily of worms, which it captures using its radula, a ribbon-like structure covered in rows of teeth. The Oxymeris maculata drills into the shells of its prey, using its radula to rasp a hole through the shell, and then injects a paralyzing venom to subdue its prey.
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