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West Indian Chank Shell

Turbinella angulata

Classification

Turbinella angulata, common name the West Indian chank shell or Lamp Shell, is a species of very large tropical sea snail with a gill and an operculum, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinellidae. The name "chank" for the shell of this species is derived from the word shankha, the divine conch or sacred conch, Turbinella pyrum, a closely related species from the Indian Ocean. Due to the rarity of the more famous Turbinella pyrum shell, sometimes the Turbinella angulata shell is used as a shankha (ceremonial blowing trumpet).

Distribution

(c) Juan Carlos Pérez Magaña, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC-BY-SA
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Countries in the Picchu catalog
Mexico · 29Cuba · 3