Cerithium litteratum
{{Short description|Species of gastropod}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Cerithium litteratum (Born, 1778) (4311966772).jpg
| image_caption = Cerithium litteratum shell
| taxon = Cerithium litteratum
| authority = (Born, 1778)
| synonyms = Cerithium angustum Anton, 1838
Cerithium litteratum playagrandensis Weisbord, 1962
Cerithium semiferrugineum Lamarck, 1822
Murex literatus
Murex litteratus Born, 1778
}}
Cerithium litteratum is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cerithiidae.{{WRMS species|216687|Cerithium litteratum (Born, 1778)|www.marinespecies.org|24 March 2015}}
Distribution
Cerithium litteratum has been living in shallower waters and reefs of the Western Central Atlantic Ocean, from South Carolina to Florida including the Gulf of Mexico in North America over Central America (Belize) to South America (Brazil), and has been documented in the Indian Ocean. It prefers water temperatures and ecosystems associated with a tropical climate.[http://sealifebase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?genusname=Cerithium&speciesname=litteratum Cerithium litteratum]. sealifebase.org, accessed 9 January 2011. It was judged to be an 'occasional' alien species in the Mediterranean Sea, based on a 1978 find by fishers in the Aegean Sea.
Description
{{as of| 2010}} the maximum recorded shell length has been 34 mm.{{cite journal | last1 = Welch | first1 = J. J. | year = 2010 | title = The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 5 | issue = 1| page = e8776 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0008776 | pmid=20098740 | pmc=2808249| doi-access = free | bibcode = 2010PLoSO...5.8776W }}
Habitat and ecology
{{as of| 2010}} the snail has been found between sea level and a maximum recorded depth of 88 m below sea level. which means it lives in the sunlight zone of the pelagic.
The snail is a herbivore, feeding on algae for example.{{cite journal|author1=Vittorio Garilli, Evi Vardala Theodorou|title=Occurrence of the Western Atlantic Cerithium litteratum (Born, 1778) (Gastropoda: Cerithiidae) in The Aegean Sea|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257602607|journal=Notiziario S.i.m.|accessdate=24 March 2015|pages=34–36|date=September 2005|volume=23|issue=9–12}}
Small hermit crabs, mostly Calcinus tibicen but also Paguristes punticeps and Paguristes cadenati have long been known to move into its empty shells.{{cite web|author1=Craig Didden |author2=Amanda Arnold |author3=Chandler Sella |author4=Darren Brown |author5=Peter J. Edmunds |title=The Distribution of Cerithium litteratum along the coast of St. John, US Virgin Islands, and the use of its shells by hermit crabs|url=http://viewpoint.org/ftpimages/102/misc/misc_78617.pdf|publisher=viewpoint.org|accessdate=24 March 2015|date=2011}}
Experimental evidence exists, that the snail helps to recruit corals by removing algae on subsurfaces, which compete with the coral's settlement.{{cite journal|author1=Sarah W. Davies |author2=Mikhail V. Matz |author3=Peter D. Vize |title=Ecological Complexity of Coral Recruitment Processes: Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores on Coral Recruitment and Growth Depends Upon Substratum Properties and Coral Species|journal=PLOS ONE|date=9 September 2013|volume=8|issue=9|pages=e72830| doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0072830|pmid= 24039807|pmc=3767691|doi-access=free |bibcode=2013PLoSO...872830D }}
Fish prey on the snail, and the Caribbean hogfish, Lachnolaimus maximus for example, can crush the mollusc with its jaw. Biomechanical research has found Cerithium predation to be limited by force, rather than by the gape of the jaw.{{cite journal|author1=Peter C. Wainwright|title=Biomechanical limits to ecological performance: mollusc-crushing by the Caribbean hogfish, Lachnolaimus maximus (Labridae)|journal=Journal of Zoology|date=October 1987|volume=213|issue=2|pages=283–297|doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1987.tb03704.x}}
References
{{Commons category|Cerithium litteratum}}
{{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerithium Litteratum}}