The photo below shows a living Terebra taurina photographed by Mark W. Johnson in April 2019 at a depth of approximately 20 m (65 feet) on dark sand and algae, near Young Island, off the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Terebra taurina is certainly the largest species of auger snails (family Terebridae) in the western Atlantic, reaching more than 180 mm (7 inches) in length.
Its shell is robust, with a well-defined suture (the groove between adjacent whorls) and a color pattern of elongated brownish spots set against a cream-white background. Auger snails are predators, injecting a cocktail of toxins into their prey using their hypodermic-needle-like radular teeth, in the same manner as their cousins, the cone snails.
Its shell is robust, with a well-defined suture (the groove between adjacent whorls) and a color pattern of elongated brownish spots set against a cream-white background. Auger snails are predators, injecting a cocktail of toxins into their prey using their hypodermic-needle-like radular teeth, in the same manner as their cousins, the cone snails.
