Cart-rut Shell
Scientific name: Dicathais orbita
Click to enlarge image
Cart-rut shell and egg capsules, Dicathais orbita
Image: Dr Isobel Bennett
© Australian Museum
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Dicathais
- Species
- orbita
- Subfamily
- Rapaninae
- Family
- Muricidae
- Super Family
- Muricoidea
- Order
- Neogastropoda
- Subclass
- Caenogastropoda
- Class
- Gastropoda
- Phylum
- Mollusca
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Size Range
- 7-8 cm
When it was first discovered, this species was named the Cart-rut Shell because the grooves resembled the narrow, deep wheel ruts of the horse-and-carriage vehicles of the day.
Identification
The Cart-rut Shell is a large white snail with deep, parallel ridges or grooves in its shell.
Habitat
The Cart-rut Shell lives on intertidal rock platforms.
Distribution
The Cart-rut Shell is found in Southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia to Western Australia.
Distribution data sourced from the Atlas of Living Australia
Other behaviours and adaptations
The Cart-rut Shell has a canal at the front edge of its shell, through which it siphons water to detect its prey.
