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seagrass lagoon

Noble volute Cymbiola nobilis Family Volutidae

The living Noble volute is even more beautiful than its shell. With a body brightly marked in orange and black, this handsome creature is sometimes seen on the seagrass lagoon.

Noble Food: The Noble volute seeks out buried bivalves with its siphon and encloses the prey in its huge foot then waits. When the exhausted bivalve opens up to breathe (which can take several days!), the volute sticks its proboscis in and rasps the flesh of its prey with its radula. Volutes may hunt their prey from the surface, but often burrow to eat their prey under the sand.

Noble Babies: Noble volutes lay translucent egg capsules. The eggs hatch and undergo metamorphosis within the egg capsules, emerging as tiny crawling snails.

Role in the habitat: Many of the Noble volute shells you see on Chek Jawa contain a hermit crab instead of the living snail. Even after it dies, the snails shell continues to provide shelter! The hermit crabs need the shell more than we do so we should not collect these shells even if they are empty.

Human uses: Called ‘kilah’ in Malay, the Noble volute is edible. It is also often collected for its attractive shell.

Status and threats: The Noble volute was previously abundant in Singapore but is now considered vulnerable due to habitat degradation and overcollection for food and for its attractive shell.

On rare ocassions, the seagrass lagoon appears full of living Noble volutes!

Noble volute
laying eggs

quick facts
To about 20cm, sometimes seen in the seagrass lagoon

Classification:
Class Gastropoda
Phylum Mollusca

See also ...
Molluscs in general
Gastropods in general

Links
Volutidae on The Gladys Archerd Shell Collection at Washington State University Tri-Cities Natural History Museum website: brief fact sheet on volutes with photos

Other references

Tan, K. S. & L. M. Chou, 2000. A Guide to the Common Seashells of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre. 160 pp.
Ng, P. K. L. & Y. C. Wee, 1994. The Singapore Red Data Book: Threatened Plants and Animals of Singapore. The Nature Society (Singapore), Singapore. 343 pp.
Fiene-Severns, Pauline, Mike Severns and Ruth Dyerly, 2000. Periplus Nature Guides: Tropical Seashells. Periplus Editions. 64pp.
Woodward, Fred, 1993. Identifying Shells. The Apple Press, London. 80 pp.
Harasewych, M.G., 1991 edition. Shells: Jewels from the Sea. Courage Books, USA. 224 pp.

a companion website to the chek jawa guidebook website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com

a companion website to the chek jawa guidebook
website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com