Busycon carica syn. Fulgur carica

English: Fulgur Carica
Natural Size

Subject: Fulgur carica
Tag: Shellfish
Date 1871/1872
Author Edward S Morse (Edward Sylvester Morse) (1838–1925)
Source/Photographer Theodore Gill (1873) Catalogue of the fishes of the east coast of North America, Report of the Commissioner (United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries), 1871/1872, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FMIB_33513_Fulgur_Carica.jpeg

The knobbed whelk (Busycon carica) is a species of very large predatory sea snail, or in the US, a whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks. It is found in shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of North America from Massachusetts to northern Florida. The knobbed whelk is the second largest species of busycon whelk, ranging in size up to 30.5 cm. The shell of most knobbed whelks is dextral, meaning that it is right-handed. The surface is sculpted with fine striations and there is a ring of knob-like projections protruding from the widest part of the coil. The color is ivory or pale gray, and the large aperture (the inside of the opening) is orange. The canal inside is wide and the entrance can be closed by a horny oval operculum.
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Busyconidae
Genus: Busycon
Species: Busycon carica (Gmelin, 1791)