Panamic Fig Shell, Ficus ventricosa

Panamic Fig Shell, Ficus ventricosa. Shell collected off the beach of Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, March 2025. Size: 5.8 cm (2.3 inches) x 5.1 cm (2.0 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato.

Panamic Fig Shell, Ficus ventricosa. Shell collected off the beach in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, August 2020. Size: 8.5 cm (3.3 inches) x 4.9 cm (1.9 inches).

Phylogeny:  The Panamic Fig Shell, Ficus ventricosa (G. B. Sowerby I, 1825), is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Ficidae Family of Fig Shells. The species name ventricosa comes from the Latin word meaning swollen or bulging on one side.  The Ficus Genus is the only genus in this family, and there a twelve species in this genus. They are also known as the Swollen Fig Shell and in Mexico as Caracol Higo.

Description: Panamic Fig Shells are gracefully curving, and thin, but strong.  They are shaped like an elongate fig or pear. The shell is almost all body whorl. The spire is extremely low, not extending above the body whorl. The aperture is large and the siphon canal is long. They have external sculpting consists of fine spiral and concentric lines. Their interiors are smooth and polished. They have a large mantle that extends over the shell and they do not have an operculum. The shells are tan to yellowish gray in color, with brown or reddish-brown spots on some of the ridges. The interior is pinkish to lavender in color. The Panamic Fig shells reach a maximum of 15.0 cm (5.9 inches) in length and 8.6 cm (3.4 inches) in height.

Habitat and Distribution: Panamic Fig Shells are found on sand and muddy sand substrates. They live at depths between 9 m (30 feet) and 26 m (85 feet). They are rarely collected by divers and more commonly brought up by shrimp trawlers, or found washed up on the beach. They are a subtropical to tropical Eastern Pacific species  that are found in all Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from north of San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California Sur along the central and northwest coasts of Baja.

Ecology and Behavior: Panamic Fig Shells are a poorly studied and understood species. There is very limited documentation of their diet, predation, reproduction or ecosystem interactions. Other species in Family Ficidae are variously described as either carnivorous predators that feed primarily on echinoderms or detritivores.  They are gonochoric and reproduce sexually,  with internal fertilization. The eggs are laid as masses of stacked capsules. 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 common and widely distributed and should be consider to be of Least Concern.

Synonyms: Ficus ventricosus and Pyrula ventricosa.