Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides
Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides. Size: 5.1 cm (2.0 inches) x 2.8 cm (1.2 inches). Collection, photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides. Size: 5.2 cm (2.0 inches) x 2.8 cm (1.2 inches). Shell courtesy of the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2016.
Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, March 2023. Size: 5.6 cm (3.8 inches) x 3.2 cm (1.3 inches) in height. Collection, photographs and identifications courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.
Phylogeny: The Prickly Wing Murex Shell, Pteropurpura erinaceoides (Valenciennes, 1832) is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Muricidae Family of Rocks Shells. The genus Pteropurpura is one of one hundred ninety-eight genera in this family, and there are sixteen species in this genus. They are known in Mexico as Murícido Espinoso. The species name erinaceoides is Latin meaning hedgehog-like.
Description: Prickly Wing Murex Shells are dainty and are comprised of five or six whorls. They have a moderately high spire. These shells are sculpted with spiral ridges. Between the frilled and recurved varices, there is a series of low, blunt, knobs, topped by a larger, blunt, knob on the shoulder. They have a moderately long, closed, siphon canal and an oval aperture. The exterior of the outer lip of the aperture has slight dentition (teeth). The exterior of the shell is cream to brown in color, with some specimens displaying lighter and darker coloration as blotches or streaks; the interior is white. Prickly Wing Murex Shell reach a maximum of 6.4 cm (2.5 inches) in length and 3.6 cm (1.5 inches) in height.
Habitat and Distribution: Prickly Wing Murexes reside attached to, and under, rocks. They live in the intertidal zone, and to depths up to 20 m (65 feet). They are a subtropical to tropical Eastern Pacific species that are ENDEMIC to Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean being found from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, to Salina Cruz, Oaxaca. They are found throughout the Gulf of California.
Ecology and Behavior: Prickly Wing Murexes are predators that feed primarily on barnacles and other shelled mollusks. They are gonochoric and reproduce sexually, with internal fertilization. The eggs are laid as a mass, on rocks or other hard substrates. Their engagement in any type of commensal, parasitic or symbiotic relationship has not been formally documented. 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 californicus, Murex erinaceoides, and Muricidea erinaceoides, and Pteropurpura (Pteropurpura) erinaceoides.