Biodiversity & Conservation

Common pelican's foot - Aporrhais pespelecani

Aporrhais pespelecani

Image Jack Sewell - Aporrhais pespelecani. Image width ca 2 cm.
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Distribution map

Aporrhais pespelecani recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Aporrhais pespelecani is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Mollusca Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class Gastropoda Snails, slugs & sea butterflies
Authority Linnaeus, 1758
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Recorded from various locations around the British Isles.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Sublittoral only, common on mud and muddy sand to offshore depths of 180 m.
Text page icon Description A gastropod with a tall slender shell with a distinct pointed apex. The outside of the shell is sandy in colour and the inside is pearly white. The outer lip and the edge of the shell opening are darker in colour. The shell can be up to 4.5 cm tall (measured from the tip of the spire to tip of fifth lobe) and 3 cm wide (measured to edge of outer lip). In mature shells the aperture (shell opening) is dominated by the outer lip, that expands into a plate shape like the webbed foot of a bird. The outer lip of the aperture fans out into five bluntly rounded points, of which the first is fused to and extends half way along the length of the spire. Lobes 2-4 form points on the expansion, the fifth projects from the base and curves slightly towards the shell opening. The shell consists of up to 8-10 whorls which have thick knobs and finer spinal ridges. The last whorl occupies about half of the shells height. The snails body has a long tapering snout with tentacles each with a basal eye. The foot is shield shaped and narrow with a point at the posterior end. The flesh is mainly white with yellow flecks on the snout and tentacles.
Identifying features
  • The thick margin around the shell fans out into five bluntly rounded points, resembling the webbed foot of a bird.
  • Tall spire with up to 10 whorls which posses thick knobs and finer spiral ridges.
  • Shell glossy and cream or sandy in colour, often with a purplish stain on the back of the last whorl.
  • The outer lip and the edge of the shell opening are darker in colour.
  • Inside surfaces are pearly white.
  • Up to 45 mm tall and 30 mm wide.
Additional information icon Additional information The sipunculid Phascolion strombi sometimes inhabits empty shells of Aporrhais (Fish & Fish, 1996).

This review can be cited as follows:

Tracy Heath 2008. Aporrhais pespelecani. Common pelican's foot. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 26/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2577>