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  • José H. Leal

Shell of the Week: The Blackberry Drupe

Claremontiella nodulosa (C.B. Adams, 1845) is a member of the family Muricidae, the same groups that include the local drills and murexes. The Blackberry Drupe shell reaches about 25 mm mm (about one inch), and its surface is entirely covered with round, black beads; the overall effect evokes a drupe, in this case a blackberry. The shell is also very thick shell in relation to its overall size. Notice also the white “teeth” inside the shell aperture. Blackberry Drupes live in shallow water, and the species geographic range covers a vast area in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean. (A large reproduction of this illustration is displayed in the In Focus exhibition at the National Shell Museum.)


The Blackberry Drupe, Claremontiella nodulosa, from Coral Cove, Florida. Photos by James F. Kelly.


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