Charonia lampas (Linnaeus, 1758)
Worldwide tropical waters. In Atlantic, the species occurs from southern Celtic Sea and Channel islands south to Namibia, Azores, Madeira and lusitanian seamounts, to western Mediterranean. The species lives from intertidal grounds down to circa 200m deep, on various bottoms. Predator on echinoderms like the red sea-star Echinaster sepositus (Retzius, 1783), sea-urchins etc…

Original taxon: Murex lampas.
Synonyms: capax, nodiferum, powelli, rubicunda, sauliae…
Above: L. A. Reeve: Conchologia iconica vol. II, London 1843. Triton nodiferus pl. III, and Triton australis pl. IV.
Specimen from an old english collection.
Ajaccio Bay, W. Corsica, 285mm.
150m deep, off Restinga, Tanger-Tétouan, N. Morocco. 250mm.
 
The shell of this species differs from that of the brasilian Ch. marylenae Petuch & Berschauer, 2020, by the absence of this peculiar pattern of thin variegated rows that run along the body whorl of marylenae, up to the lip; also, marylenae always bears a pair of knobby rows on the last whorl, separated from each other by a large band. In lampas, when the two rows of knobs exist, they are much more close together.
The animal in G. S. Poli: Testacea utriusque Siciliae…, vol. IV, Parma 1791-1796, plate XLIX via BHL.
A dark specimen from Sénégal.
M’Bour, Petite Côte. 195mm.
The form “nodifera” Lamarck.
10m deep, Casamance river mouth, N. coast of Kabrousse, Oussouye department, Western Casamance, Sénégal. 170mm.
Specimens from atlantic Europe are smaller, thicker, rarer, and are almost always heavily colonized by epibiotic organisms.
Old specimen from Oléron island, W. France. 170mm.
Specimens from the Grande Vasière, collected at about 100m deep, southern Finistère, W. Brittany, NW. France.
J.-M. Morel’s didactic showcases, ACO, AFC (FR).
A specimen catched by trawlers than worked on the eastern flank of Porcupine Bight, in the south-west of Ireland: 51°N, 12°39'12"W. 205mm.
The variant “rubicunda” found in Australia and New Zealand.
At low tide on reef, Moses Rocks Reefs, south of Cape Naturaliste, W. Australia. 83mm (right)-124mm (left).
Tentacles variegated red and black.
At low tide, Langs Beach, Waipu, Whangarei District, SE. coast of Northland Region, North Island, New Zealand.
Original picture provided by beaumasters for iNaturalist.
– (CC BY-NC) –
Triton nodiferum in Kiener & Fischer: Spécies général et iconographie des coquilles vivantes vol. VII, Paris 1880, pl. I.
 
« Testâ ovato-conicâ, infernè ventricosâ, nodiferâ, albo et rufo-fuscenscente, nebulosâ; anfractibus cingulato-nodosis, supernè obtusè angulatis; columellâ supernè biplicatâ, infernè rugosâ. »
Eggs and adult: Puerto de Ciervana, La Calleja Auzoa, Zierbena, Ria de Bilbao, Vizkaya, N. Spain. Original picture provided by F. Alvarez for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
The species is rare in Adriatic.
100m deep, Vis island, Split-Dalmatia Comitat, S. Croatia. 275mm. Original pictures provided by N. Lete (HR).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –

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