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Common Whelk

Richard Bell’s Wild West Yorkshire nature diary, Thursday, 8th January 2009

 

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common whelk
common whelk

THE NOTCH at the front of the shell is for a siphon tube. The whelk uses the tube for searching out carrion - dead fish and crabs and suchlike - underwater.

Common Whelk, Buccinum undatum

Tubes of Keelworm, Pomatoceros lamarcki

Keelworms, Pomatoceros lamarcki, have constructed their keeled tubes inside the discarded whelk shell. They’re members of the tubeworm family Serpulidae and they feed by spreading a crown of brightly coloured tentacles from the mouth of the tube.