Canarium scalariforme are mostly relatively rare in the Marshalls, but when found usually occur in groups. They can be found buried in the top layer of coarse sand or fine rubble in seaward reef sand patches from about 8 to 25m depth, or they can be found in lagoon Halimeda beds or even crawling on the surface of the sand in 6 to 13m. Occasional specimens have been observed in sand patches on large flat-topped lagoon pinnacles. Long known in the area as Canarium haemastoma, it turns out C. scalariforme is an earlier name.
The purplish black color on the inner lip of the aperture (the columella) fades to red long after the death of the animal.
Created 1 October 2009
Updated 1 August 2020