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Family Tritonidae

SHELL spiral, thick, with one or two varices to each whorl; aperture round, with thick lips, and anterior canal; operculum present; mantle enclosed; foot small, siphon short; lingual ribbon set with seven rows of teeth; eyes on tentacles.

A large tropical family of three genera allied to Muricidae on one side, and Doliidae on the other. They subsist upon decaying animal matter and live from low water to fifty fathoms depth.

Genus TRITON, Montf.

Shell ovate or oblong, with prominent elevated spire, ribbed and crossed by varices, usually few, remote, and non-continuous; columella smooth, wrinkled or noduled; outer lip thick, and scalloped or toothed within; canal long or short, turned up; operculum horny, ovate or annular, with nucleus marginal.

A handsome tropical genus of about 150 species, including one that reaches 18 inches in length--"almost the largest of gasteropod mollusks," writes Tryon. Some species have worldwide distribution, accounted for by the fact that the young are pelagic and free-swimming, very different creatures from the staid adult Tritons. The metamorphosis occurs some time after hatching.

"The Tritons are shells of much more solid structure than the Murices or Ranellae, and of much more simple growth. They are not furnished with any spines nor have they any ramified branches like the Murices; the rude manner in which the whorls are convoluted seems rather to indicate that their animal inhabitant, though possessing abundant power of calcification, is of somewhat sluggish growth."--Reeve.

A very tough skin covered with hairs or bristles protects the shell externally in most species. The lip curls in as the mollusk matures, forming a marginal channel which is filled with shelly material. This thickening of the lip precedes a period of rest. When growth is resumed the mantle extends the shell leaving the thickened lip behind as a varix crossing the whorl.

The apex is peculiar in structure. It is horny with a thin plating of shelly substance outside. The shell is often seen chipped off, exposing the horny foundation.

Triton's Trumpet (T. tritonis, Linn., T. variegatus, Lam.) is called "the Variegated Triton," by Reeve. Variegated it is, with buff, and brown, purple and red, in rich patterns suggesting the plumage of pheasants. The ground is pale; the dark colours are laid on in crescentic patches, no longer than the width of the spiral ridge they ornament. The columella is dark purplish brown, crossed by white wrinkles. The spire bears about a dozen flat varices. The outer lip is toothed, and whitish, with double streaks of brown soon fading into the ruddy aperture. The canal is short and recurved.

This is the giant Triton which reaches sixteen or eighteen inches in length. The Pacific Islanders use it for a teakettle, the operculum being the lid and the canal, the spout. The shell is hung by a wooden hook over the fire. The long spire and swollen body whorl give a sixteen-inch Triton considerable capacity.

Habitat.--New Zealand, Polynesia, Philippines, Japan, Indian Ocean.

Variety nobilis, Conr., differs from the type in being broader and heavier, with a distinct shoulder, especially noticeable on the body whorl. The first few coils of the spire are quite smooth. The aperture is pale orange. The shoulder appears only on adult shells. This is the West Indian Triton, found also in the Mediterranean and Cape Verde Islands.

The Knobbed Triton (T. nodiferus, Lam.) is a big-mouthed, stout trumpet shell, with a double row of knobs encircling its spire. Instead of becoming larger on the body whorl, the knobs fade out. There are Tritons much more noticeably knobbed than this one. The gaping throat has a pale lining. Brownish yellow tesselations adorn the strongly ridged exterior and mark the toothed lip border. The broad, brown columella is wrinkled above and below. Length, 5 to 10 inches.

The species in somewhat variable forms occurs up the Atlantic Coast of Europe to the British Channel, and South to the Canary Islands. In the East, it is found in Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and in Natal and Mauritius in Southern Africa. Tryon considers T. Sauliae, Rve., and T. australis, Lam., variations of this species.

"Madame Power found this animal capable of reproducing amputated tentacles. The Sicilians and Algerians eat the mollusk, and esteem it a delicacy. At Nice, the fishermen and country people make a hole in the apex of the spire and use the shell as a trumpet, which produces a braying sound. It is an indispensable instrument in the old-fashioned charivari, which she describes as a deafening serenade to signalise the marriages of ill-assorted or unpopular couples."--Tryon.

The Oil-vessel Triton (T. olearium, Linn.) has a thick, broad shell, with few varices and a blunt spire, strongly ribbed and set with tubercles, more or less prominent. The ground colour is light brown, spotted alternately with dark brown and white. The aperture is flesh-coloured, the columella dark brown with raised white wrinkles.