Sea Snail Sea shell - M-990 CHARONIA LAMPAS (No Reserve Price)

The beautiful Charonia lampas shell is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine mollusk from the family Charoniidae. The conch consists of 8–9 whorls with a moderately high conical spire and convex whorls, the last of which is broad and makes up just over two-thirds of the total height. The spiral whorls have faint shoulders, with very flat spiral cords separated by poorly defined, rather narrow intervals, the shoulder covered by a much wider and flatter cord, and usually, but not always, a spiral series of nodules parallel to the abapical side with smaller, flat cords with spiral rows of nodules or without them. The large aperture has an oval shape with an elaborate peristome. The outer lip is flared, thickened a short distance from the edge, with internal teeth. The inner part of the aperture shows a flattened columellar callus, transitioning into a foliated columellar callus, which has a raised edge over the siphonal canal on large specimens and exhibits faint ridges toward the edge. The coloration is very distinctive, with jointed spiral bands of light spots on the nodules and dark brown intervals, alternated with medium brown homogeneous bands. The peristome is white with dark brown teeth on the outer lip and a brownish to reddish hue on the edge of the columellar callus. Dimensions—70/105/180mm. Highly recommended for collectors and interior decorators.