Mollusca · mollusks

Atlantic oyster drill

Urosalpinx cinerea

Muricidae · rock snails & drillsIUCN: Not evaluated
Atlantic oyster drill
Photo: Bill Frank · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized

A small predatory snail that bores into oysters.

Fun factIt drills through shell by alternating rasping with an acid secretion.

Waters
Northeast US, Northwest Atlantic
Depth zone
Intertidal shore, Coastal shallows & estuaries
Diet
Oysters & barnacles
Size
Shell up to 3 cm

Classification

Mollusca › Gastropoda › Neogastropoda › Muricidae

  1. Kingdom Animalia animals
    • Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
    • Cells have no cell walls
    • Most can move at some stage of life
  2. Clade Bilateria bilateral animals
    • Body has a left and right side that mirror each other (bilateral symmetry)
    • Head end with concentrated nerves; three tissue layers
    • Includes about 99% of all living animal species
  3. Clade Protostomia protostomes
    • In the embryo, the first opening usually becomes the mouth
    • Main nerve cord runs along the belly (ventral)
    • Includes mollusks, worms, and arthropods
  4. Clade Spiralia mollusks, worms & kin
    • Embryos usually divide in a spiral pattern (spiral cleavage)
    • Many have a swimming larva with a band of cilia (trochophore)
    • Includes mollusks and segmented worms
  5. Phylum Mollusca mollusks
    • Soft body with a muscular foot and a fold of tissue (mantle) that makes the shell
    • Most have a rasping, tongue-like ribbon of teeth (radula)
    • Includes snails, clams, octopuses, and chitons
  6. Class Gastropoda snails & slugs
    • Snails and slugs, most with a single, often coiled shell
    • Body twists 180 degrees during development (torsion)
    • Crawl on a broad muscular foot
  7. Subclass Caenogastropoda whelks, periwinkles & kin
    • Most have a single gill and a shell door (operculum)
    • Many have a siphon to sample water
    • Includes periwinkles, whelks, and conchs
  8. Order Neogastropoda whelks & cone snails
    • Mostly predators and scavengers
    • Long siphon in a groove (siphonal canal) at the shell opening
  9. Family Muricidae rock snails & drills
    • Rock snails and drills, often with spines or ridges on the shell
    • Drill through shells to eat barnacles, mussels, and oysters
  10. Genus Urosalpinx
    • Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
  11. Species Urosalpinx cinerea Atlantic oyster drill

Closest relatives in the guide