This is a curious little species that maxes out at about 17mm long. Specimens, usually empty shells, are found occasionally on lagoon and seaward reefs. Living animals are most often observed on lagoon shipwrecks, where they live in the fine, silty mud commonly called "muck" by wreck divers. Looking inside the doorway of the cabin on a small landing craft sunk in the Kwaj ski area one night, I observed dozens of trails in the surface of the muck. The several plucked out to examine were all this species of Nassarius. What they might be eating in there I have no idea, and we have not yet been able to positively identify the species.
This one is still covered with a layer of fine muck from the inside of the shipwreck.
Although some are more elongate than others and coloration varies somewhat, they are found together and are presumably variations of one species.
Empty shells are often stained with rusty muck from the shipwreck habitat.
Created 28 May 2011
Updated 25 October 2020