Scaphander lignarius (Linnaeus, 1758)

Iceland & Norway to Morocco, to Mediterranean. Predator on Polychaetes and Bivalvia, from the sandy infralittoral down to circa 700m deep. Original taxon: Bulla lignaria. A specimen with its gizzard plates, from Ancona, Marche, NE. Italy. 55mm. These plates are used to crush the shells.

Synonyms: giganteus, laevis. Some named variants. Subadult specimen from the Bay of Siracusa, E. Sicily, 21mm.

The “Wood dipper” in E. Donovan: The natural history of British shells, vol. I, London 1799, plate XXVII.   « Oblong, oval, narrow towards one end, and somewhat umbilicated (or rather convoluted). Striated transversely. […] The length is generally from one inch and a half to two inches; the shell is brittle and without gloss, of a light, brownish colour, wrought transversely, with fine striae, and many narrow whitish veins. Its latin and English names are derived from its supposed resemblance to a piece of veined wood. »

Specimens found beachstormed, near the entrance of Ayrolles lagoon, Gruissan, Occitania, S. France. 51-61mm.

Same spot.

Grau de la Vieille Nouvelle, Gruissan. 37,5-60mm.

Specimens from northern Atlantic. 500-800m deep, Banc de la Grande Sole, southern margin of Celtic Sea. 48-54mm.

— back to Scaphandridae —