Snail, beautiful because of the sea;
The sea, because of the snail and the splendor.
To collect a conch is to collect a sea.
Among the thousands of kinds of conchs, 4 kinds are known as the "four famous snails". Today we are going to talk about the tangguan snail, the first of the "four famous snails".
Tang guan snail scientific name "crown snail", is a large conch. The shell of the Tang crown snail is large and thick, both long and high can reach 30 centimeters, its color ranges from gray to golden yellow, with a metallic luster, and it is named because it is shaped like the crown hat of the Tang Dynasty.
The crown snail belongs to the national second-class protected animal, the shell is very precious, the shell is large, the shape is unique and beautiful, it is a treasure of home furnishings and play, and it is also a must-collect item for marine collection.
The surface of the coronal shell is mostly grayish white, with irregular reddish-brown markings, and there are large reddish-brown patches near the edge of the shell mouth, and the mouth surface is flesh-colored, with a dazzling luster. The crown snail shell is large and thick at the top, the apex is pointed, and there is a longitudinal axis vertically downward from the top of the shell in the center of the shell, which is a shell column. Around the shell column from the top of the shell layer to the ventral surface rotation, each rotation layer is a spiral layer, the boundary between the layers is called "suture line", many parallel thin lines perpendicular to the suture line, called "growth line". The bottom spiral layer is particularly developed, and the head and feet are mainly hidden in it, called the "body snail layer".
The growth line and spiral-shaped ribs intersect to form a network, and each layer of the shoulder has nodule protrusions. The nodule protrusions of the body snail layer are particularly developed and conical, and the nodule protrusions in the spiral part are completely or partially buried as the next layer grows, the outer lip is turned outwards and upwards, and the inner lip is curled inward. The opening of the body snail layer is called the "shell mouth".
Tangguan snails belong to the gastropods of molluscs. Gastropods get their name from the fact that the feet are located on the ventral surface of the body, usually with a spiral shell, so they are also called "monoclaves" or "snails". The typical gastropod head is more developed, with a mouth, eyes, and one or two pairs of antennae. The feet are clumpy, extremely muscular, and have a wide surface, suitable for crawling on a flat surface. The back of the foot also has a three secreted by the foot glands, and when the body is retracted into the shell, the shell can be completely closed with the three. The coat membrane is like a pocket that can wrap around the entire body.
It is found along the coast of East Africa, the Caroline Islands, the Samoa Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, and southern Japan. In China, it is distributed in Taiwan and the Paracel Islands, and the main production areas are Xiaoliuqiu, the southern waters of Taiwan, and the South China Sea.
Tangguan snail is a warm sea species, living in the low tide line water depth of 1 to 30 meters of broken coral substrate shallow sea, generally after dusk to nocturnal activity, during the day buried in the gravel, only exposed to the back. They are slower, feed on seaweed and tiny organisms, are fond of echinoderms, and have a strong digestive capacity. The outer lip of the shell of the tangguan snail is extremely abducted, and the female snail is significantly larger than the male snail.
Reprinted from China Ocean News