Knobbed Whelk

The knobbed whelk is found along the atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Florida. It has asymmetry. The knobbed whelk has a spiraled shell, and the opening is on the right side. It has 2 pairs of tentacles on its head. A behavioral adaptation if the knobbed whelk is that it has a hard plate called the operculum that acts like a trap door. A structural adaptation i that it has a shell to protect itself from predators. A functional adaptation is that they can go out of their shell, and when predators come, they go back in  the shell. An interesting fact about the knobbed whelk is that they have existed for more that 30 million years. Predators of the knobbed whelk are crabs, sea stars, and sea urchins. The prey of knobbed whelks are clams, oysters, and mussels. Knobbed whelks are heterotrophic and endothermic. (cold blooded)

Scientific name: busycon carica

Domain: eukaryote

Kingdom: animal

Phylum: mollusca

Class: gastropoda

Order: neogatropoda

Family: melongenidae

Genus: busycon
Species: carica

P.S This was the only picture of a knobbed whelk sorry!