Swollen Hairy Triton Shell, Turritriton gibbosus
Swollen Hairy Triton Shell, Turritriton gibbosus. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, May 2025. Size: 4.5 cm (1.8 inches) x 2.6 cm (1.0 inch). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.
Swollen Hairy Triton Shell, Turritriton gibbosus. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, March 2022. Size: 1.9 cm (0.7 inches) x 1.3 cm (0.5 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.
Swollen Hairy Triton Shell, Turritriton gibbosus. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, May 2025. Size: 4.8 cm (1.9 inches) x 2.9 cm (1.1 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.
Phylogeny: The Swollen Hairy Triton Shell, Turritriton gibbosus (Broderip, 1833), is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Cymatiidae Family of Triton Shells. The genus Turritriton is one of twenty-three genera in this family, and there are six species in this genus. The genus name Turritriton comes from Latin and refers to the turret-like spire. Gibbosus is also Latin, meaning humped or swollen on one side.
Description: Swollen Hairy Triton Shells are small, knobby, and consist of around seven whorls. The tops of the whorls are flat, giving the spire a stair step appearance. There are four varices per whorl. The outer lip of the aperture is wide and thick, with “teeth” along the aperture. The siphon is moderate in length, and open. The exterior of the shell maybe yellowish, brown, gray, or variegated with all these colors, plus white. The interior of the shell is white. Swollen Hairy Triton Shells reach a maximum of 4.0 cm (1.5 inches) in length and 2.3 cm (0.8 inches) in height.
Habitat and Distribution: Swollen Hairy Tritons reside on, and under, rocks and are found from the intertidal zone to depths up to 100 m (328 feet). 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 the west coast of the Baja Peninsula.
Ecology and Behavior: Swollen Hairy Tritons are a poorly studied and understood species. There is very limited documentation of their diet, predation, reproduction or ecosystem interactions. Other species in the Cymatiidae Family are predators that feed primarily on ascidians, bivalves, gastropods, sea cucumbers, sea stars, and urchins. They sense their prey with chemoreceptors and utilize chemicals in their saliva to anesthetize and pre-digest their prey. In turn they are preyed upon by crabs, fish, predatory mollusks and sea stars. Swollen Hairy Triton Shells are gonochoric and reproduce sexually. Some sources state that they reproduce through broadcast spawning, with external fertilization, and other sources state they have internal fertilization. Triton species are generally known for having a long larval phase. Consequently, they can drift, as plankton, for long distances before settling to the bottom. Their engagement in any type of commensal, parasitic, or symbiotic relationships has not been formally documented. From a conservation perspective Swollen Hairy Tritons have not been formally evaluated. However, they are fairly common with a relatively wide distribution and should be considered to be of Least Concern.
Synonyms: Cymatium (Turritriton) gibbosum, Cymatium adairense, Cymatium gibbosum, Cymatium gibbosum gibbosum, and Triton gibbosus.