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Ceratostoma | |
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A live individual of Ceratostoma foliatum, in situ on a rock | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
Order: | Neogastropoda |
Superfamily: | Muricoidea |
Family: | Muricidae |
Subfamily: | Ocenebrinae |
Genus: | Ceratostoma Herrmannsen, 1846 |
Synonyms | |
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Ceratostoma, common name the "hornmouth" snails, is a genus of medium to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the rock snails. [1]
This genus should not be confused with the nudibranch genus Ceratosoma, meaning "thorn body". Ceratostoma means "thorn mouth" because of the thorn-like projection on the edge of the aperture, used as a tool in predation to prop open the shells of bivalves and barnacles.