-600~650m, Trawled, Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan, 148.3mm.
The « Osagawa's Whelk » is a large cold-water buccinid endemic to the Sea of Okhotsk, best known from around Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan. A carnivorous / scavenging gastropod inhabiting muddy bottoms of rather deep water around -200~700m, it is locally somewhat uncomm.on but rather rare in the international shell trade. The very fragile shell is very slightly variable in inflatedness of whorls, but otherwise little-varied. It was named in honour of Mr. Goro Osagawa who kindly donated many specimens to Japanese malacologists which became the basis for describing a number of new species including this one, during his presidency of the Rausu Fisheries Union. Typical shell length 120mm., giant specimens occasionally exceed even 150mm. It is sometimes seen in Japanese fish market especially in Hokkaido, and is considered a delicacy like other Buccinum species.