Buccinum undatum

Buccinum undatum Temporal range: 28.5Mya - Present
A live individual of Buccinum undata being held up above the substrate
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Buccinoidea
Family:	Buccinidae
Subfamily:	Buccininae
Tribe:	Buccinini
Genus:	Buccinum
Species:	B. undatum
Binomial name
Buccinum undatum (Linnaeus, 1758)

Buccinum undatum, known as the common whelk, is a large edible marine gastropod in the family Buccinidae, the "true whelks".

Distribution

This species is a familiar part of the marine fauna of the Northern Atlantic and is found on the shores of the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Iceland, some Arctic islands, and North America as far south as New Jersey.

Habitat

This species is mainly found on soft substrates in the sublittoral zone, and occasionally on the littoral fringe, where it is sometimes found alive at low tide.

Two beach worn shells of Buccinum undatum from North Wales

Shell

This species has a solid shell which is very pale. In life the shell is covered in a yellowish-brown periostracum.

The shell surface has a sculpture of vertical wavy folds (hence the name undatum, which means wavy). The wavy folds are crossed by numerous incised spiral lines, some of which are paired. The aperture of the shell is broadly oval and tapers to a siphonal canal. The number of shell whorls is seven or eight.

The maximum height of the shell is 10 cm and the maximum width is 6 cm.

The animal emits a thin and copious slime. ^[1]

Parasites

Larval stages of Stephanostomum baccatum were found in the digestive gland of Buccinum undatum.^[2]

As a food item

Cooked whelks removed from the shell

Buccinum undatum are eaten widely. Some believe they are best cooked by boiling in sea water.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ G.W. Tryon, Systematic Conchology vol. I, Philadelphia, 1882
2. ^ Sommerville C. (1978). "The histopathology of Stephanochasmus baccatus Nicoll, 1907 in the digestive gland of Buccinum undatum (L.)". Journal of Fish Diseases 1(3): 219-232. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2761.1978.tb00024.x.

External links

• MarLIN: The Marine Life Information Network for Britain & Ireland
• R. Tucker Abbott & Percy A. Morris, 1995, Shells of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the West Indies, Houghton Mifflin, Boston