Larch shell (Sacculosiphonaria japonica)

Japanese: カラマツガイ(落葉松貝) - カラマツガイ（英語表記）Sacculosiphonaria japonica

A snail shell of the Laridae family that lives in the intertidal zone of coastal rocks (illustration). Its shell is cap-shaped and not coiled. It is about 2 cm long, 2 cm wide, and 0.7 cm high, with a black apex that is slightly to the left rear of the center. The shell skin is yellow with black between the ribs. The inside is blackish purple, but the edges have yellow-white spots. It is often found in the upper intertidal zone of rocky reefs from southern Hokkaido to Kyushu. It lives in a certain place, and when the tide goes out, it crawls out and feeds on algae on rocks about 20 cm away, then returns to the original place by retracing the path it came from, and has a homing habit of resting in the shape of its original shell.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

海岸の岩場の潮間帯にすむカラマツガイ科の巻貝（イラスト）。殻は笠形で巻いていない。長さ2cm，幅2cm，高さ0.7cmくらいになり，殻頂は黒くて中央からやや左後方に寄る。殻皮は黄色で肋の間は黒みがある。内面は黒紫色であるが，縁部は黄白斑がある。北海道南部から九州までの岩礁の潮間帯の上方に多い。一定の場所にすみ，潮が引くとそこからはい出して20cm内外のところの岩上の藻類を食べ，きた道をたどってもとの場所に戻り，もといた殻の形に合わせて休む帰家習性がある。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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