Snails

Below are examples of snails you are likely to run across if you spend any time at all on Oregon’s exposed shores. All photos are from northern Oregon unless noted in the caption. My organization follows Lamb and Hanby (2005). Common names are my choice. I refer to WoRMS for scientific names, and I learn a ton by browsing the natural history riches in Kozloff (1993). Biodiversity of the Central Coast’s Molluscs page is full of great information about the species shown below. And they are covered in the books, field guides, and identification resources listed at the bottom of the page.

Nucella ostrina, northern striped dogwinkle

Most noticeable up among the acorn barnacles, Balanus glandula, Nucella ostrina is one of the more enjoyable snails you’ll encounter in the rocky intertidal.

  • close up of 19 N. ostrina the navy from whit to dark gray with no pattern to brown with light and dark stripes
    The color and pattern of Nucella ostrina shells are variable
  • Two smooth-shelled N. ostrina, one orange and one very pale
    A smooth orange shell is eye-catching
  • Close up of a pale-purplish shell with darker purple strips and some shell erosion, this one perched high up among the acorn barnacles.
    Color, pattern, and sculpturing combine to make a lovely shell
***


Lirabuccinum dirum, dire whelk

I haven’t run across dire whelks on my home beaches in northern Oregon. These are from sheltered Salish Sea waters.

  • Lirabuccinum dirum on the inside of a cockle shell (I turned over the shell to get this shot) | Galiano Island
  • L. dirum, waiting out low tide | Galiano Island
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Tegula funebralis, black turban

Black turbans are conspicuous and abundant. They seem a bit more numerous on the central Oregon coast than on my home beaches in northern Oregon. Dave Cowles’ page on back turbans is full of great information.

  • The top of the shell is almost always eroded
  • A variety of small invertebrates hitch-hike on Tegula shells
  • Not much black at all here | Central Oregon
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Callianax biplicata, purple olive

  • A lone snail plowing through wet beach sand
    Callianax biplicata is at home on clean sandy beaches
  • Purple olive tracks in wet beach sand that resemble english letters G ad J
    Purple olives have a lot to say, and they write it all down
***


References

Gotshall, D. W. 2005. Guide to Marine Invertebrates, Alaska to Baja California 2nd Edition (Revised). Shoreline Press.

Harbo, R. M. 2011. Whelks to Whales: Coastal Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. 2nd ed. Harbour Publishing Co.

Kozloff, E. N. 1993. Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast. 3rd ed. University of Washington Press.

Lamb, A. and B. P. Hanby. 2005. Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. Harbour Publishing.

Sept. J. D. 2009. The Beachcomber’s Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest. Revised ed. Harbour Publishing.