Gastropods · Neogastropoda · Buccinidae

Common Whelk

Buccinum undatum

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

A sea snail with a thick, ridged shell, both predator and scavenger: it detects dead fish and crustaceans at a distance with its olfactory siphon and drills into bivalves with its radula. It supports pot fisheries in northern Europe. It lays spongy masses of egg capsules that the sea usually casts up on the beach.

Size

6 cm – 11 cm

Lifespan

10 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

OceanCarnivore Colonial Ocean Mollusc

17countries 23parks 19dive sites

Fun facts

In each egg mass only a few embryos are ever born: the first to develop devour their siblings and the unfertilised eggs before emerging.
The masses of empty capsules that turn up on the shore were known aboard ship as sea wash balls, because sailors used them to wash their hands.
It lays its eggs in spongy masses of capsules that the tides wash up on the beach; they are known as sea wash balls, because sailors used them to wash their hands.
Only a handful of tiny snails emerge from each capsule: the first embryos to develop eat their siblings.
It is extremely sensitive to the tributyltin in antifouling paints. That compound causes imposex, the development of male organs in females, which in severe cases sterilises them and wiped out whole North Sea populations. It was one of the pieces of evidence that led to the TBT ban.
It locates carrion at a distance by smell, orienting itself with its siphon.
It is an important fishery resource in the United Kingdom, France and Canada, much of it exported to South Korea.