The true whelks occur worldwide in all seas from tropical oceans to the cold seas of theArctic Ocean and theSouthern Ocean.[2] They are found from theintertidal to thebathypelagic zones. Most prefer a solid bottom, but some inhabit sandy substrates.
A siphon whelkPenion ormesi, collected from Golden Bay in New Zealand.
The shells of species in this family are moderate to large in size, conical to fusiform in shape. The shell often has deep sutures. The shell surface is generally smooth, sometimes with a spiral and/ or axial sculpture. The thickness of the shell is more pronounced in tropical shallow-water species, while the shell of species living in moderate and colder waters is generally thin or moderately thin. The top of thewhorls are more or less shouldered. The radial ribs of the shell sometimes show shoulder knobs. Theaperture is large with a well-definedsiphonal canal. The rim of the aperture is sometimes used to pry open the shell ofbivalves. The aperture is closed by a hornyoperculum.
The soft body is elongated and spiral. The head has two conical, depressed tentacles which bear the eyes on a lobe or prominence at their base. The mouth contains a long, cylindrical, annulated proboscis and a small tongue. The mantle forms a thin-edged flap over the branchial cavity. On the left side, it has an elongated, open canal, that emerges by a notch or groove in the shell. The two gills are elongated, unequal and pectinate (i.e. in a comb-like arrangement). The large foot is generally broad.[4]
True whelks arecarnivores andscavengers.[2] They feed onclams,carrion, and sometimes even ondetritus. Their sense of smell is very well-developed; they can sense chemical signals from their prey from a considerable distance with theirosphradia. Many whelks are capable of boring through the shell of bivalves, and because of this, some species cause much harm inoyster farms. True whelks can even attack fish caught in a net by extending theirprobosces to twice the length of their own bodies.
The female whelk lays spongy egg capsules with hundreds of eggs. These form round clusters or a tower-shaped masses. Only about 10% of these eggs hatch. The larvae then feed on the rest of the eggs that have not yet hatched.
The flesh of the common northern whelk,Buccinum undatum, is much appreciated by connoisseurs as a food item, but its consumption is currently somewhat in decline.
The empty shell of a whelk is often used by the hermit crab to make its home.
According to thetaxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005), followed by the revision in 2022 by Kantor, Y.I., Fedosov, A.E., Kosyan, A.R., Puillandre, N., Sorokin, P.A., Kano, Y., Clark, R. N. & Bouchet, P.,the family Buccinidae consists of six subfamilies:
The subfamily Pisaniinae has been raised to the status of familyPisaniidae in 2009 by Galindo, L. A.; Puillandre, N.; Utge, J.; Lozouet, P.; Bouchet, P.[3]
TritonelliumValenciennes, 1858: synonym ofTritoniumO. F. Müller, 1776 accepted asBuccinumLinnaeus, 1758 (unnecessary replacement name forTritoniumO. F. Müller, 1776, by Valenciennes considered a homonym ofTritoniaCuvier)
^abBouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Buccinidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species athttp://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=149 on 2010-12-30
^abcVaux, Felix; Hills, Simon F.K.; Marshall, Bruce A.; Trewick, Steven A.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2017). "A phylogeny of Southern Hemisphere whelks (Gastropoda: Buccinulidae) and concordance with the fossil record".Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.114 (2017):367–381.Bibcode:2017MolPE.114..367V.doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.06.018.PMID28669812.
Hayashi S. (2005). "The molecular phylogeny of the Buccinidae (Caenogastropoda: Neogastropoda) as inferred from the complete mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences of selected representatives".Molluscan Research25(2): 85-98.abstractPDF
Bouchet Ph. & Waren A. (1985). "Mollusca Gastropoda : Taxonomical notes on tropical deep water Buccinidae with descriptions of new taxa".Mém. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Sér. A.133:457–518.
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