Common Pacific Vase Shell, Vasum turbinellus
Common Pacific Vase Shell, Vasum turbinellus. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, December 2021. Size: 7.0 cm (2.75 inches) x 6.4 cm (2.5 inches). Photograph and Identifications courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.
Phylogeny: The Common Pacific Vase Shell, Vasum turbinellus (Lamarck, 1758), is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Vasidae Family of Vase Shells. The genus Vasum is one of nine genera in this family, and there are three species in this genus. They are also known as the Ceramic Vase Shell.
Description: The Common Pacific Vase Shell is large, solid, turbinate, and strongly spined. It has a low spire, with small and large blunt spines on the shoulders and whorls. The columella has five or six folds. They have seven to nine whorls with the body whorl bearing eight or nine stout, blunt, upward pointing spines at the shoulder with a similar row of smaller spines immediately below. The middle of the whorl has two spiral cords which have eight to fifteen small knobs. At the base of the shell there are three rows of seven or eight bluntly conical spines. The suture is indistinct and wavy. Their periostracum is thin, weakly foliaceous, and grayish yellow or gray-brown. The operculum fills most of the inner aperture and is corneous, blackish and unguiculate. Common Pacific Vase Shells are white with brown blotches. The aperture is yellowish-white and the outer lip of the aperture has short teeth and is blotched with black. The Common Pacific Vase have a maximum of 11.5 cm (4.5 inches) in length, with a spire that can be up to 9.5 cm (3.5 inches) in length.
Habitat and Distribution: Common Pacific Vase Shells are found within rocky shores, shallow reefs, sand and coral rubble at depths up to 10 m (30 feet). They take shelter at night under rocks. The Common Pacific Vase is considered to be an Indio-Pacific species. We believe the shell photographed above is indeed a Pacific Vase Shell and its collection documents its presence in the Gulf of California.
Ecology and Behavior: Common Pacific Vase Shells are predators that feed primarily on polychaetes. They are gonochoric and reproduce sexually. There is no mention in the available literature of them engaging in any types of parasitic, commensal, or symbiotic relationships. From a conservation perspective they have not been formally evaluated however they are fairly common with a relatively wide distribution and should be consider to be of Least Concern.
Synonyms: Murex turbinellus, Turbinellids cornigera, Turbinellids variolaris, Vasum turbinellum, and Volutella nigra.