| Melo | |
|---|---|
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| |
| A shell of the Indian volute, Melo melo surrounded by a group of pearls from that species | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Neogastropoda |
| Family: | Volutidae |
| Tribe: | Melonini |
| Genus: | Melo Broderip in Sowerby I, 1826[1] |
Melo is a genus of extremely large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Volutidae, the volutes. Because of their huge ovate shells, these snails are often known as "bailers" (the shells were sometimes used for bailing out canoes) or "melons" (because the shell resembles that fruit).
Species in this genus sometimes produce large pearls. The image in the taxobox shows a group of these pearls with a shell of the species Melo melo.
- ^ Broderip W. (1826). In: Sowerby, Gen. Shells, (28).