Knobbed Whelk (MatBio: MOLLUSKS - Matanzas Biodiversity)

Knobbed Whelk

Busycon carica

Summary ⁵

The knobbed whelk, Busycon carica, is a species of very large predatory sea snail, or in the USA, a whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the busycon whelks.

Description ⁶

Busycon caricais a member of the family Melongenidae and one of roughly fourteen known species of the subfamily Bucyconinae. Members of the genus Busycon are the largest marine gastropods along the eastern coast of the United States (Ram 1977). Juvenile whelks have small beads on their shells, while adult whelk shells are thick with spines on the shoulder. Knobbed whelk shells are right-handed and have a long siphonal canal. The outer shell is grayish white to tan and may have some dark brown streaks. The brown streaks are more prominent in juvenile shells. The inner shell ranges in colors from pale yellow to orange and even dark red.

Reproduction ⁷

The reproductive season for the knobbed whelk in Beaufort, North Carolina is reported to begin in March and lasts through September (Magalhaes 1948). In South Carolina, B. carica reproduces during the fall and spring (Anderson 2005). After fertilization occurs the female lays a string of eggs in deep water and anchors the string to the sand by one end. The capsules of B. carica are wide with two smooth surfaces resembling book covers (Magalhaes 1948, Ram 1977). These strings of eggs consist of up to 40 pouches, with each pouch containing up to 100 fertilized eggs. Field studies have shown that egg strings are laid in the fall on tidal and intertidal flats and over winter to hatch in the spring (Castagna and Kraeuter 1994).