Antarctic whelk Neobuccinum eatoni

Neobuccinum eatoni is found throughout Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, South Sandwich Islands, Kerguelen Island, and Heard Island at depths from 4 to 1,335 meters [2,3,6,8,9,12,13,15]. N. eatoni is one of the most widely distributed Antarctic molluscs in space and depth [4,5]. Fine wrinkles or growth lines appear on the smooth convex whorls of the shell, with deep sutures between the whorls [5,9,10,12]. The shell color of N. eatoni is variable and has been reported as whitish or creamy with a dull brownish yellow or tawny tinge; light bluish-purple; dark purplish-brown; or a dark brown pattern over a gray background [9,10,11,12]. The shell of N. eatoni may have a thin straw-colored epidermis when perfect [5]. The spire height of N. eatoni is variable with deep water specimens usually elongated [4]. Larger shells have been collected at nine centimeters in length [5,13,17]. The operculum is black brown, chitinous, and semi-ovoid [9].

Neobuccinum eatoni has been collected from sand with pebble, rock with pebble, sandy mud, and mud [8]. N. eatoni eats dead animals (necrophagous) and its prey includes the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki and damaged Laternula elliptica bivalves that become unburied by iceberg scouring [1,15,16]. N. eatoni has been kept in captivity for over a year on a meat diet of shrimp, bivalve, and fish [7].

N. eatoni has been found in the stomach contents of the fish Trematomus hansoni [14].



Neobuccinum eatoni ova (eggs) have been described as occurring singly or massed together, with each capsule a hemispherical orange shape about eight millimeters in diameter, surrounded by a marginal membrane [18].

1: Polar Biology 6(3):139-143, 1986; 2: Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 5(3,4):117-193, 1960; 3: British, Australian, and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition Reports. Series B (Zoology and Botany) Volume 6, Part 9, 1957; 4: British, Australian, and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition Reports. Series B (Zoology and Botany) Volume 6, Part 7, 1957. p.132; 5: Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-1914. Scientific Reports. Series C, Zoology and Botany. Volume 4, Part 1. Mollusca. Sydney : David Harold Paisley, 1916; 6: Archiv fuer Naturgeschichte 45(1-2):129, 1879; 7: Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research. Special Issue 32:103-104, 1984; 8: Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research. Special Issue 32:105-111, 1984; 9: Korean Journal of Polar Research 5(2):15-28, 1994; 10: Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Zoology, Botany, and Geology (Series 4) 16:67-73, 1875; 11: EA Smith, Report on the Collections of Mollusca Made in Antarctica during the voyage of the "Southern Cross." IN: Report on the Collections of Natural History Made in the Antarctic Regions During the Voyage of the "Southern Cross" Part 7, London : Printed by Order of the Trustees, 1902. page 202; 12: FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes : Southern Ocean (Fishing Areas 48, 58 and 88) (CCAMLR Convention Area) / W Fischer & JC Hureau, eds. Rome : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1985; 13: Antarctic Mollusca : with Special Reference to the Fauna of the Ross Sea. RK Dell. Wellington, NZ : Royal Society of New Zealand, 1990. Bulletin 27, Royal Society of New Zealand; 14: Bulletin de l'Institut Oceanographique 66(1368), 1966; 15: Tethys Supplement 4:105- 134, 1972; 16: Antarctic Science 10(4):369-375, 1998; 17: Ross Sea ecology : Italiantartide Expeditions (1987-1995). FM Faranda, L Guglielmo, A Ianora, eds. Berlin : Springer, 2000. pp.503-514; 18: Reports on the Scientific Investigations: Biology. British Antarctic Expedition (1907-1909). London: W. Heinemann, 1910-1911. Volume II, Part I. Mollusca. Charles Hedley

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