:Sinustrombus sinuatus

The shell of S. sinuatus is thick and solid with a large body whorl. The maximum length is {{convert|13|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}, but a more common size is {{convert|10|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}. The short spire consists of about twelve whorls; the exterior of the shell is white, blotched or spotted with yellow, orange or light tan, and the interior is brown, purple or pink.{{cite web |url=http://www.stromboidea.de/?n=Species.SinustrombusSinuatus |title=Sinustrombus Sinuatus |author=Wieneke, Ulrich |date=26 September 2018 |work=Gastropoda Stromboidea |access-date=3 February 2020}} It is rather varied in morphology, with the lip of the aperture having a number of blunt finger-like processes, which vary from being almost unnoticeable to being prominent. The difference in shape of these variations is larger than the difference between the shape of this mollusc and the related species Lambis millepeda, Lambis scorpius and Lambis lambis, which it resembles.

Sinustrombus sinuatus is found in tropical and sub-tropical waters in southeastern Asia and Oceania. Its range extends from Sri Lanka and the eastern coast of India to the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Melanesia, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia.{{cite web |url=https://www.sealifebase.se/summary/Strombus-sinuatus.html |title=Strombus sinuatus Humphrey, 1786: Laciniate conch |publisher=SeaLifeBase |access-date=6 June 2020}} Its typical habitat is a sandy substrate with algae and coral fragments in areas with low turbidity. It occurs from the low intertidal zone down to about {{convert|20|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}.{{cite journal |author=Silos, Rose-Ann C. |author2=Manting, Muhmin Michael |author3=Demayo, Cesar G. |year=2014 |title=Elliptic Fourier analysis in describing shell shapes of three species of Lambis (Gastropoda: Strombidae) |journal=Journal of Applied Science and Agriculture |volume=9 |issue=11 |pages=239–244 |s2cid=2645468 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e562/8da6c48a76d7291b0cbaff365e01e1a7376a.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203105421/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e562/8da6c48a76d7291b0cbaff365e01e1a7376a.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-02-03 }}

In the nineteenth century there was a widespread belief that members of the family Strombidiae were carnivorous but this proved to be false. S. sinuatus inhabits soft substrates where it feeds on fragments of algae, ingesting sand and detritus, and deriving its nutrition from the decomposing organic material.{{cite journal|last=Robertson|first=R.|title=The feeding of Strombus and related herbivorous marine gastropods|journal=Notulae Naturae of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia|year=1961|issue=343|pages=1–9}} It is an active mollusc, able to use its slender foot and robust operculum to flip itself off the seabed, in locomotion or defence.{{cite journal |last1=Latiolais |first1=Jared M. |last2=Taylor |first2=Michael S. |last3=Roy |first3=Kaustuv |last4=Hellberg |first4=Michael E. |title=A molecular phylogenetic analysis of strombid gastropod morphological diversity |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |date=November 2006 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=436–444 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.027 |pmid=16839783 |url=http://biology.ucsd.edu/labs/roy/PDFs/Latiolais%20et%20al.%202006%20Mol.%20Phyl.%20&%20Evol.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624060455/http://biology.ucsd.edu/labs/roy/PDFs/Latiolais%20et%20al.%202006%20Mol.%20Phyl.%20&%20Evol.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-06-24 |access-date=6 June 2020}} Its operculum and the finger-like processes on the lip of the shell are also used in the behaviour involved in shell-righting.{{cite journal |author=Perron, F.E. |title=Locomotion and shell-righting behaviour in adult and juvenile Aporrhais occidentalis (Gastropoda: Strombacea) |journal=Animal Behaviour |date=1978 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=1023–1028 |doi=10.1016/0003-3472(78)90091-X}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Sinustrombus sinuatus|Sinustrombus sinuatus}}
• {{Wikispecies-inline|Sinustrombus sinuatus|Sinustrombus sinuatus}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1304522}}

Category:Strombidae

Category:Molluscs of the Indian Ocean

Category:Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean

Category:Gastropods described in 1786