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 |  José Leal

Shell of the Week: The Flame Auger

Terebra taurina is certainly the largest species of auger snail (family Terebridae) in the western Atlantic, reaching more than 180 mm (7 inches) in length. Its shell is robust, with a well-defined suture (the groove between adjacent whorls) and a color pattern of elongated brownish spots set against a cream-white background.  Auger snails are predators, injecting a cocktail of toxins into their prey using their hypodermic-needle-like radular teeth, in the same manner as their cousins, the cone snails. The species has a broad geographic distribution, living from Florida throughout the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, to southern Brazil.




Terebra taurina from Palm Beach, Florida. Illustration: James F. Kelly.

Terebra taurina from Palm Beach, Florida. Illustration: James F. Kelly.


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