Dermomurex pauperculus

Dermomurex pauperculus, common name the little aspella, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.^[2]

Dermomurex pauperculus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Muricidae
Genus:	Dermomurex
Species:	D. pauperculus
Binomial name
Dermomurex pauperculus (Adams, 1850)[1]
Synonyms[2]
Aspella paupercula (Adams, 1850) Dermomurex pauperculus (Adams, 1850) Murex pauperculus Adams, 1850 Triton cantraini Recluz, 1853

Description

The length of the shell varies between 12 mm and 30 mm.^[3]

Its diet consists of bivalves such as oysters, muscles and clams and feeds on them by plunging a hole through the mollusks shell. They also eat carrion and other dead animals.^[4]

Distribution

This species occurs in the Caribbean Sea and the Lesser Antilles; in the Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina to Brazil. They are found in shallow near shore waters.^[5]