Tutufa bubo (Linnaeus, 1758)
210mm
Tutufa bubo is uncommon
in the Marshalls. It is the largest of the Bursidae here; although the largest
specimen we measured is 210mm, others observed in the field were clearly larger.
The shell is usually thickly encrusted or eroded and the aperture of old adults
can be somewhat expanded. We see these most often exposed on the seaward reef
and lagoon pinnacles at depths of 3 to 25m.
The next is a very old animal with an eroded and pitted shell.
A young specimen has more black
in its animal.
The next photo shows a very small
juvenile less than 25mm in length.
Created 10 August 2010
Updated 21 March 2020
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