- Messages
- 16,415
- Reaction score
- 5,225
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
Charonia variegata, common name : the Atlantic triton
Not sure crown of thorns are their yet either and I hope they never are. As far as I know they are in the Indian and Pacific oceans. But then the Lion fish was also a Indian and Pacific Ocean fish too, now it is in the Atlantic and has no predators except for man and maybe grouper.
I think the term trumpet applies to the triton species because they were/are used as trumpets by native people in the Pacific. I think is a common name used for all the triton's vs a specific one.
I don't really know either if Crown of Thorns are in the Atlantic/Caribbean. I thought they were. I also recall a diver saying he took one while diving in Alabama. But I admit I'm not sure. Maybe the person mentioning it to me (as the reason for me not taking a Triton's Trumpet) isn't sure either. I guess Google might work. As far as the name--Atlantic Triton's Trumpet (and Pacific Triton's Trumpet, I believe) are the specific common names of the 2 shells. The Pacific one can grow to 18" while the Atlantic only gets to 15". These are the ones people used to actually use as "trumpets", though there are others that were used--the Queen Conch and I think the Chank Shell, to name 2. Conch is another funny name in that people tend to refer to a whole bunch of larger gastropds as "conchs", whereas true conchs (the Strombus family) are a specific related group. Horse Conchs, Crown Conchs and Pear Conchs (which are actually Pear Whelks), to name 3, are not of the Conch family.