Lambis lambis

Lambis lambis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common spider conch

photo by Batoy, Corazon B.

Family:	Strombidae (conchs)
Max. size:	29 cm SHL (male/unsexed)
Environment:	benthic; marine; depth range 0 - 24 m
Distribution:	Indo-Pacific: from East Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, east to southeast Asia and Australia, as far east to French Polynesia and north to Japan. Subtropical and tropical.
Diagnosis:	Sexual dimorphism pronounced. Shell of the males usually smaller and with shorter digitations on the outer lip.
Biology:	Often collected for food by coastal populations, and the shell used in shellcraft (Ref. 349). Maximum depth from Ref. 106336. Occurs at the low tide mark (Ref. 349), intertidal and found on subtidal reef and seagrass (Ref. 98588). It is also found on sand, weeds near corals (Ref. 799), muddy areas (Ref. 97553), reef-flats, coral rubble bottoms or mangrove areas (Ref. 128042). Shallowly burrows in sand or gravel. Grazes on animal matter in the mud. Also predominantly feeds on sand grains, polychaetes, bivalves and small crustaceans (Ref. 97553).
IUCN Red List Status:	Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. 123251)
Threat to humans:	harmless
Country info:

Source and more info: www.sealifebase.org. For personal, classroom, and other internal use only. Not for publication.