DISTRIBUTION
Western Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic (from Bay of Biscay to Angola). Madeira and the Canary Islands where it is found in all the islands. It is a common species at medium depths.
DESCRIPTION
From 70 to 120 mm. Shell high-spired and slender. Sculpture formed for strong spiral cords with several interstitial threads. Axial sculpture formed by spaced varices, well marked forming nodules in the intersections. Siphonal canal well developed and straight. Aperture oval with weak plicae in columellar wall and prominent teeth in a thick outer lip. Operculum corneus with a submarginal nucleus in the lower side. Protoconch has more than 5 convex whorls and its color is whitish. Periostracum formed with a dense and short plate of dark olive hairs. Basic color white or cream (usual color in the Canary Islands) with dark spots in the teeth and darker color in the axial sculpture. The animal is similar to C. parthenopeum with light brownish bottom but the spotted pattern is brown to reddish and the outline of the spots is white.
REMARKS
A typical Canarian species found all around Lanzarote. It is also a common species in the other islands where it lives camouflaged in rocky bottoms feeding on other animals as a carnivorous species. The Canarian shells are darker than the Mediterranean ones and they are also smaller. While specimens of 100 mm are common in the Mediterranean Sea, the dwarf Canarian form rarely reaches 70 mm. For this reason it has been considered as a variety of nominal species. It is easily distinguishable from the rarer C. krebsii by the regular presence of the dark marks in the teeth in the latter species.