Solomon Islands Shells and Sea Snails

This page links to some of the living seashells we saw and photographed during two trips to the Solomon Islands in August 1987 and April 1994. This page includes shelled gastropods and chitons; nudibranchs and their relatives are figured on another page. Both trips were made back in the old days of film cameras, and most of my 36 exposures per dive were saved for nudibranchs and sea slugs, so photos of shells were rather limited. Besides, getting living animal photos of shells usually requires patience. Disturbed animals tend to retract into their shells and often will not come out for some time. Our dive trips were of limited duration, and I rarely would spend the time to wait for a shell's animal to show itself, so the photos below represent only a small fraction of the species we actually did see there. Most shells were neither collected nor measured in the field, so any sizes given, except for the empty specimen shots, are just estimates.

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Architectonicidae - sundials


Architectonica maculata


Architectonica perspectiva

Cancellariidae


Trigonostoma thysthlon


Scalptia cf bicolor


Scalptia contabulata

Cassidae - helmet and bonnet shells


Casmaria erinaceus

Casmaria ponderosa

Phalium bandatum

Semicassis bisulcata

Conidae - cones


Conasprella aculeiformis

Conasprella articulata

Conus achatinus

Conus acutangulus

Conus arenatus

Conus betulinus

Conus bullatus

Conus capitaneus

Conus circumcisus


Conus coelinae


Conus consors

Conus corallinus

Conus figulinus

Conus generalis

Conus glaucus

Conus geographus

Conus gloriamaris

Conus hyaena

Conus legatus

Conus marmoreus

Conus moluccensis

Conus mucronatus

Conus obscuus

Conus ochroleucus

Conua parius

Conus pertusus

Conus solomonensis

Conus stercusmuscarum

Conus striatellus

Conus textile

Conus viola

Costellariidae - ribbed miters


Vexillum caffrum

Vexillum citrinum

Vexillum costatum

Vexillum michaui

Vexillum militare

Vexillum obtusispinosum

Vexillum rubrocostatum

Vexillum rugosum

Vexillum sp.

Cymatidae


Monoplex comptus


Ranularia gutturnia

Cypraeidae - cowries


Bistolida kieneri


Bistolida stolida

Blasicrura pallidula

Contradusta bregeriana

Cribrarula cribraria

Cypraea tigris

Eclogavena coxeni

Erronea caurica

Erronea cylindrica

Erronea melanesiae

Erronea ovum

Lyncina carneola

Lyncina lynx

Mauritia arabica


Naria eburnea


Ovatipsa chinensis

Palmadusta asellus

Palmadusta contaminata

Palmadusta humphreyii

Palmadusta ziczac

Purpuradusta hammondae

Talostolida pellucens

Talostolida teres

Talparia talpa

Dentaliidae - tusk shells or scaphopods

Scaphopods are not gastropods and therefore not really snails, but instead belong to a related molluscan class Scaphopoda. Also called tusk shells, most species have curved, tusk-like shells with openings on both ends. They generally live buried in the sand.


Dentalium elephantinum

Epitoniidae - wentletraps


Epidendrium aureum

Fasciolariidae - spindle shells


Dolicholatirus cf lancea


Turrilatirus turritus

Ficidae - fig shells


Ficus ficus

Harpidae - harp shells


Harpa harpa


Harpa major

Haliotidae - abalone


Haliotis asinina


Haliotis sp.

Mitridae - miters


Quasimitra nubila


Scabricola vicdani

Muricidae - murexes


Chicoreus axicornis


Chicoreus brunneus

Chicoreus cf microphyllus

Chicoreus paini

Chicoreus palmarosae

Chicoreus torrefactus

Favartia cf robertsoni

Haustellum haustellum

Homalocantha zamboi

Murex tenuirostrum

Naquetia cumingii

Pterynotus bipinnatus

Nassariidae - basket shells


Nassarius glans


Phos roseatus

Naticidae - moon snails


Naticarius onca

Naticarius orientalis

Notocochlis cernica

Tanea undulata

Naticidae sp.

Olividae - olives


Oliva annulata


Oliva buelowi

Oliva carneola

Oliva guttata

Oliva mantichora

Oliva miniacea

Oliva parkinsoni

Oliva reticulata

Oliva vidua

Ovulidae - false cowries


Calpurnus verrucosus


Margovula bimaculata


Phenacovolva cf fusula

Phenacovolva pseudogracilis

Phenacovolva rosea

Phenacovolva cf rosea

Pachychilidae


Faunus ater

Personidae


Distorsio reticularis

Pisaniidae


Pisania sp.

Pseudomelatomidae


Inquisitor cf aesopus

Rostellariidae


Varicospira cancellata

Seraphsidae


Terebellum terebellum

Strombidae - strombs and fingershells


Euprotomus bulla

Euprotomus vomer

Laevistrombus canarium

Lambis millepeda

Ministrombus minimus

Terestrombus terebellatus

Tridentarius dentatus

Terebridae - auger shells


Duplicaria spectabilis


Myurella parkinsoni

Myurellopsis undulata

Oxymeris dimidiata

Terebra elliscrossi

Terebra quoygarmardi

Tonnidae


Tonna allium

Trochidae


Chrysostoma paradoxum


Clanculus margaritarius

Turridae - turrid shells


Lophiotoma acuta


Turris babylonia

Vermetidae - worm snails


Thylacodes grandis

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