Kelletia kelletii
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Kelletia kelletii Temporal range: -Recent |
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| a live Kelletia kelletii | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): |
clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda |
| Superfamily: | Buccinoidea |
| Family: | Buccinidae |
| Genus: | Kelletia |
| Species: | K. kelletii |
| Binomial name | |
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Kelletia kelletii (Forbes, 1850) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Fusus kelletii Forbes, 1850 (original combination) |
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clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Fusus kelletii Forbes, 1850 (original combination)
Siphonalia kelletii (Forbes, 1850)
Kelletia kelletii, common name Kellet's whelk, is a species of large sea snail, a whelk, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.
Kelletia kelletii is a large scavenger and predatory sea snail commonly found in subtidal kelp forests, rocky reefs and cobble-sand interfaces at depths ranging from 2 to 70 m from Isla Asunción, Baja California, Mexico to Monterey, California, USA. It aggregates seasonally for mating and it is slow-growing snail. It is also a recently targeted fishery species and a subject of a rapidly expanding fishery.
Kelletia kelletii is found from Isla Asunción, Baja California, Mexico, to Monterey, CA, USA. The type locality is the "Californian coast". Studies suggest that the Kellet's whelk range expanded to Monterey Bay in the 1970s or early 1980s, possibly due to an El Niño event, and is dependent on recruits from southern California.
Kelletia kelletii was discovered and described (under the name Fusus kelletii) by Manx naturalist Edward Forbes in 1850. The specific name kelletii is in honor of captain Henry Kellett, who led the scientific expedition during which these snails were collected.
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