Carribean (King) Helmet
Cassis tuberosa (Linnaeus, 1758)
The Caribbean Helemt which was called the "King" Helmet" from 1989 and before is one of the largest of the Helmet shells. It's rare on S. Hutchinson Island and I've only found fragments of the shell but enough to identify it.
Fragment of King Helmet shell showing the aperature. S. Hutchinson Island February 2021
The following similar Queen Helmet shell (Cassis madagascariensis Lamarck, 1822) measuring almost 9" was found by my friend John on our beach last year:
Queen Helmet shell (S. Hutchinson Island Summer 2020)
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WoRMS taxon details
Cassis tuberosa (Linnaeus, 1758)
AphiaID
224977 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:224977)
Classification
Biota Animalia (Kingdom) Mollusca (Phylum) Gastropoda (Class) Caenogastropoda (Subclass) Littorinimorpha (Order) Tonnoidea (Superfamily) Cassidae (Family) Cassinae (Subfamily) Cassis (Genus) Cassis tuberosa (Species)
Status
accepted
Rank
Species
Parent
Cassis Scopoli, 1777
Orig. name
Buccinum tuberosum Linnaeus, 1758
Synonymised names
Buccinum striatum Gmelin, 1791
Buccinum tuberosum Linnaeus, 1758 (original combination)
Cassis (Cassis) tuberosa (Linnaeus, 1758)· accepted, alternate representation
Cassis triangularis Coulon, 1936
Cassis triquetra Rigacci, 1866
Environment
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
Original description
(of Buccinum tuberosum Linnaeus, 1758) Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition], vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. , available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726886 [details] Available for editors PDF available [request]
Taxonomic citation
MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Cassis tuberosa (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=224977 on 2021-03-03
Taxonomic edit history
Date
action
by
2006-03-20 08:13:00Z
created
Wambiji, Nina
2010-10-01 21:22:21Z
changed
Rosenberg, Gary
2017-01-14 19:02:28Z
changed
Bouchet, Philippe
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Cassis tuberosa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cassis tuberosa
Cassis tuberosa.png
A live C. tuberosa in situ
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Family: Cassidae
Genus: Cassis
Species: C. tuberosa
Binomial name
Cassis tuberosa
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Cassis tuberosa, the king helmet, is a species of very large sea snail with a solid, heavy shell, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cassidae, the helmet shells and their allies.[1]
Distribution
This species occurs in the Western Atlantic Ocean in: North Carolina, Florida, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, Brazil, and in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean at the Cape Verde Islands. [3]
Ventral side, animal alive but soft parts retracted
Description
The maximum recorded shell length is 301 mm.[2] The shell of Cassis tuberosa is typically cream colored with dark brown spots. The dorsal surface will have fine growth lines and fine spiral lines to create a "canceled effect".[3]
Habitat
Its minimum recorded depth is 0 m.[2] and maximum recorded depth is 27 m.[2] It resides in shallow coastal waters around sandy beaches, as well as reef environments. It lives in tandem with seagrass beds, macroalgae banks, rhodolith beds and coral rubble.[3]
Human use
The shell of this species has been used for creating cameos.
The attractiveness of the shell is one of the main reasons C. tuberosa is taken for human use. Due to their preference of shallow waters, they are easily accessed by the locality and tourists.[4]
References
Cassis tuberosa (Linnaeus, 1758). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 6 December 2018.
Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
Dias et. al (2017). "What do we know about Cassis tuberosa (Mollusca: Cassidae) a heavily exploited marine gastropod?". [1]
Mota, E. L. S., Alves, R. R. da N. and Dias, T. L. P. (2020) “Fishing, trade, and local ecological knowledge of the marine gastropod, Cassis tuberosa – a target species of the international shell trade”, Ethnobiology and Conservation, 9. Available at: [2]
External links
Malacolog