I’ve written about the wentletrap shell before, but didn’t know much about it. I still am not sure which wentletrap this one is. If you can identify it, I’d love to know. (Now I know what it see – see below.)
They are carnivorous and eat coral and sea anemones.
I had a reader leave a message asking for more information about this shell. Mainly they are whitish and have a spiral shell like in this picture on Patricia B. Mitchell’s site and at Wikipedia.
Mine is shown in the photo below and is 2 1/2 inches long.
My reference book lists many types of Wentletraps found along the eastern and western seaboard of the United States but they all appear to be fairly small. I thought it might be the “brown banded wentletrap” but that one is found in the northeastern US more often than in the south (where I found mine) and it’s max length is only one inch.
Mitchell’s Wentletrap can be larger – the size of mine, but mine doesn’t’ have the lengthwise ridges and according to this source it is an uncommon shell to find… so I wonder.
UPDATE: I believe this is the boring turret shell. See an image from the Bailey Matthews museum in Sanibel.
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Mitchell’s Wentletrap (Amaea mitchelli)