Knobbed Whelk
By: Hastings Witt

Busycon carica

    The knobbed whelk also known as the Busycon carica is mainly located in tidal estuaries, or in very shallow water. There domain is eukaryote, and their kingdom is animalia. Their phylum is mollusca, and the class is gastropoda. The order is neogastropoda, and the family is melongenidae. Finally their genus is Busycon and their species is carica.These organisms have asymmetrical symmetry, which means that it has no symmetry whatsoever. This organism has a tan, grey, orange,or white shell, the inside of the shell is orange, but the organism itself is brown. It also has knobs on the tip of the shell. Three adaptations that these organisms possesses are its hard shell, which is an structural adaptation. This means that this organism’s adaptation is a part of its body. One more adaptation  is that this organism has an operculum to cover its soft body, this is also structural. Another adaptation is that they can hide deep inside their shell, this is behavioral because this is an act of the organism. An interesting fact about this organism is that it has been around for 30 million years. This  organism eats clams, oysters, mussels, and other bivalves. Its predators are crabs, sea stars, and urchins. This organism is heterotrophic because it eats other heterotrophs or autotrophs. this organism is ectothermic which means it is cold blooded.