Whelk facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Buccinidae |
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| The shell of a whelk | |
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Buccinoidea
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Buccinidae
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A whelk is a type of marine snail that lives in the ocean. You can find them in both cool (temperate) and warm (tropical) waters around the world. People often eat whelks as food. The name "whelk" is most correctly used for sea snails in the family Buccinidae, which are sometimes called "true whelks."
What is a Whelk?
The word "whelk" is a common name, which means it's used for different kinds of sea snails, not just one specific type.
- In the British Isles and the Netherlands, where the word "whelk" probably started, it usually means certain species from the Buccinidae family. A good example is Buccinum undatum, which lives in the Atlantic waters near Europe.
- In North America, "whelk" often refers to large, edible snails from the Busycon and Busycotypus groups, which are part of the Melongenidae family. These are sometimes called Busycon whelks. In the United States, an invasive snail called Rapana venosa is known as the Veined rapa whelk or Asian rapa whelk.
- In the West Indies, people use "whelks" or "wilks" for a large, edible snail called Cittarium pica. This snail is also known as the magpie or West Indian top shell.
- In Australia and New Zealand, snails from the Cabestana group are called predatory whelks.
Life of a Whelk
True whelks are carnivores, meaning they eat other animals. They are also scavengers, which means they eat dead animals. They often feed on clams, dead animals (carrion), and sometimes even tiny bits of decaying matter (detritus).
Whelks have a very good sense of smell. They can detect chemical signals from their prey from far away. Many whelks can drill through the shells of clams and oysters. Because of this, they can sometimes cause problems for oyster farms. Whelks can even attack fish caught in a net by stretching out their feeding tube, called a proboscis, to twice the length of their own bodies!
Images for kids
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Several different species of large whelks from the family Buccinidae on sale at a fish market in Japan.
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Skewered whelks from Japan.
See also
In Spanish: Buccino (caracola) para niños
