Buccinum undatum (common whelk)
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Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Buccinidae
This is a large growing whelk with a maximum length of 110mm. The egg masses are often found on the strand line although these are light in weight and so could be carried by currents for some distance. When laid each of the capsules contain about 1000 eggs most of which do not hatch or survive and are used as food by the newly hatched individuals. There can be seen at the rear of the foot of living individuals a disc of hard material that when attacked is used as a cover to the shell entrance when the foot is withdrawn inside. B.undatum is carnivorous and feeds on bivalve molluscs such as Cerastoderma edule and Mytilus edulis but will also feed on carrion. This species does not venture above the sublittoral as it has no defences against the stresses of such a lifestyle such as desiccation. The usual signs of there presence locally, without venturing beneath the water, is the washed up empty shells of dead individuals.
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