Tonna galea (Linnaeus, 1758)
Tropical W. Atlantic to Mediterranean & W. Africa.
Predator on holothurians and occasionally on fishes, shells, sea-urchins and stars, in infralittoral and circalittoral soft bottoms. Original taxon: Buccinum galea.
5m deep, on sand, western bay, Palaióhora, SW. Crete. 135mm.
A Helmet-Tun with its periostracum.
9m deep, on rough sand, north Kolokitha cove, Spinalonga peninsula, Elounda, Lassithi, N. Crete. 70mm.
The animal is white with black marblings.
Marmari bay, south of Lóggos, NE. coast of Paxos island, Ionian archipelago, W. Greece. Original picture provided by V. Stergios (GR) for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC-ND).
The Dolium galea pictured in W. Kobelt: Iconographie der schalentragenden europäischen Meeresconchylien vol II, Cassel 1901, plate L.
The species, printed on a stamp of Malta Post.
Tonna-shaped rhyton (bottom-drilled ceremony vase) carved in Nysiros obsidian, from Agia Triada, central Crete, 1500-1450 BC. Heraklion Archaeological Museum.
30m deep, on sand, Bozcaada Island, Çanakkale, Western Marmara, W. Turkey. 175mm.
The animal in G. S. Poli: Testacea utriusque Siciliae…, vol. IV, Parma 1791-1796, plate XLVII via BHL.
Above and below: a specimen from Greece, 210mm.
Original pictures provided by M. Gáspár (RO).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –
The species has « a period of pelagic development of over three months. […] A comparison between the duration of larval development and the velocity of the North and tropical Atlantic surface currents shows that transoceanic dispersal […] is possible even without a delay in settlement. » – R. S. Scheltema: “Larval dispersal as a means of genetic exchange between geographically separated populations of shallow-water benthic marine gastropods”, The Biological bulletin vol. 140, Woods Hole 1971, p.319.
A specimen laying eggs on the bottom at Kastri cove, south of Nikíti, NE. coast of the Toronaíos Kólpos, Chalkidikí, Central Macedonia, Macedonia and Thrace, N. Aegean. Original picture provided by G. Manavopoulos (GR) for iNaturalist.
– (CC BY-NC) –
1973: a Dolium galea from Vólos, Pagasetic Gulf, SE. Thessaly, E. Greece. Collection E. Vial (FR).

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