DuPetit’s Spindle Shell, Goniofusus dupetitthouarsi

DuPetit’s Spindle Shell, Goniofusus depetethouarsi. Shell provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2015. Size: 8.7 cm (3.4 inches) x 2.5 cm (1.0 inch).

DuPetit’s Spindle Shell, Goniofusus depetethouarsi. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, December 2021. Size: 17 cm (6.8 inches) x 4.9 cm (2.0 inches). Photograph and Identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.

DuPetit’s Spindle, Goniofusus dupetitthouarsi (Keiner, 1840), is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Fasciolariidae Family of Spindle, Horse Conchs and Tulips. They are also known as the Giant Spindle and the Ornamented Spindle and in Mexico as tulipa’n blanco. The shell is broad and relatively elongated with a widely open siphonal canal with the distal opening of the canal slightly flaring, and a large aperture. They have of eight to ten angular whorls with the lower whorls being marked with knobs, and a very high spiral. Other Spindles in the area have a more sinuous canal. The shell is sculpted with coarse lines spiraling along the whorls and short axial ribs forming spiarally elongated tubercles on well-marked peripheral cords. The exterior of the shell is white and they are covered with a yellowish-brown to greenish-brown periostracum. DuPetit’s Spindle Shells reach a maximum of 27.7 cm (10.9 inches) in length and 8.0 cm (3.1 inches) in height.

DuPetit’s Spindles are found in and within sand and muddy sand substrate from the intertidal zone to depths up to 55 m (180 feet). They range from, San Ignacio Bay, Baja California Sur to Peru, including the Galapagos Islands. They are found throughout the Sea of Cortez.

Synonyms include Falsifusus dupetitthouarsi and Fusus dupetitthouarsi.