Buccinum aniwanum Dall, 1907 BUCCINIDAE -200m, Off Abashiri, Hokkaido, Japan, 154.8mm, F+/F++, 2010/vi The Aniwa Whelk is a large cold-water buccinid endemic to the Sea of Okhotsk. The specific epithet is taken from name of the species type locality: Aniva Bay, Sakhalin Island; an alternative spelling of which is Aniwa Bay. It is a carnivorous / scavenging gastropod found in deep water ranging around -100~1000m, usually on muddy bottoms. The form is somewhat variable but typically quote tall and fusiform for genus Buccinum (as shown). Typical shell length around 110mm, very large specimens may exceed 150mm. It is similar to Buccinum bayani Zenkevitch, 1963 and is sometimes confused with it; the most obvious difference is in sculpture, the spiral sculpture in B. bayani is much finer and does not become very strong near the siphonal canal like in B. aniwanum. B. bayani usually also has much more inflated whorls than B. aniwanum.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 23:03:27 +0000
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