Predator in the infralittoral (« on stony and rocky ground at low-water mark and in the laminarian » – Jeffreys 1867, about specimens from Channel Islands) and circalittoral (coralligene) down to considerable depths (Azores 914m, Canaria 905m, in Locard 1897, about the shellfishes collected during the “Travailleur” and “Talisman” expeditions). Fusiform shape.
Original taxon: Murex aciculatus (needle murex).
2-3m deep, on rubble, Algeciras, Andalucia, S. Spain. 12mm.
Notice how the protoconch is lengthened but paucispiral.
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Specimens from near Atlantic:
30-80m deep, off Lagos, Algarve, S. Portugal. 13-14mm.
Shallow water under rocks, St-Lunaire, N. Brittany, NW. France. 15-16mm.
A shell from Adriatic, with an impressive subsutural cordlet. 30m deep, Hvar island, Split-Dalmatia Comitat, S. Croatia. 19mm. – Original pictures provided by N. Lete (HR) – (CC BY-NC-SA). The protoconch, paucispiral but lengthened, is that of aciculata. Hence, I place this picture here, until molecular studies carried out on the Adriatic population clear up the enigma of an “aciculata” so far in the east.
52m deep, Mljet island, Dubrovnik-Neretva Comitat. 9mm.
Original pictures provided by N. Lete (HR).
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