Phalium glaucum

Phalium glaucum, common name the grey bonnet or glaucus bonnet, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cassidae, the helmet snails and bonnet snails.^[1]

Phalium glaucum
Five views of a shell of Phalium glaucum (Linné, 1758)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Cassidae
Genus:	Phalium
Species:	P. glaucum
Binomial name
Phalium glaucum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1]
Bezoardica vulgaris Schumacher, 1817 Buccinum glaucum Linnaeus, 1758 (original combination) Cassidea strigata Shirley, 1911 Cassis bezoar Gray, 1839 Cassis glauca (Linnaeus, 1758)

Distribution

This species is widespread in the Indo-Pacific, from Eastern Africa (Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania) to Southern Japan and Melanesia.^[2]

Shells of Phalium glaucum

Habitat

This species lives on sandy bottoms with seagrass meadows, in intertidal and shallow subtidal areas to a depth of about 10 m.^[3]

Description

Shell of Phalium glaucum can reach a length of 60–147 millimetres (2.4–5.8 in).^[2]

These shells are helmet shaped with a large body whorl and tiny spires. The surface of shell is smooth and uniformly greyish or pale brown. The molluscs have a white body and a large yellowish or whitish foot which is edged in reddish brown. The operculum is bright yellow and fan-shaped. Usually this sea snail buries itself in the sandy areas with the long siphon sticking out.^[3]

Bibliography

• Arianna Fulvo and Roberto Nistri (2005). 350 coquillages du monde entier. Delachaux et Niestlé (Paris) : 256 p. (ISBN 2-603-01374-2)
• Tan S.K., Ng H.E. & Nguang L.H.S. (2013) A new species of Phalium Link, 1807 (Gastropoda: Tonnoidea: Cassidae) from the Sunda Shelf. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61(2): 507-514