Sinistral ancient neptune: red whelk: buckie
- Description
-
When viewed from the top whelk shells normally spiral in a clockwise direction. This is known as dextral or ‘right handed’. Very rarely a mutation produces snails whose shells coil anticlockwise - they are known as sinistral or ‘left-handed’.
It’s not just the shell of a sinistral whelk that is a mirror image of the more common dextral form; it’s internal organs are on the opposite side too. For molluscs this makes mating very challenging. - Accession Loan No.
- 247/1911
- Collection Class
- Molluscs
- Common Name
- sinistral ancient neptune: red whelk: buckie
- Simple Name
- shell
- Full Name
- Neptunea antiqua (Linnaeus): sinistral shell; ancient neptune, red whelk or buckie
- Family Group
- Collector / Excavator
- Pitman, Captain Charles Robert Senhouse (from the collection of)
- Phylum
- mollusca
- Family
- buccinidae
- Genus
- Neptunea Roeding
- Species
- antiqua (Linnaeus)
