Venus Comb Murex

Few shells are as instantly arresting as the Venus Comb Murex, Murex pecten. This alabaster-white gastropod is adorned with over a hundred long, slender spines radiating from its whorls.​

Reaching about 10–15 cm in length, its shell looks like a delicate bone comb – hence the fanciful name imagining it as the comb of Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty. In life, however, the snail is anything but delicate. Dwelling in Indo-Pacific shallows, it is a **fierce predator of other mollusks.**​

Using a acidic secretion and rasping tongue, the murex drills through clams and snails, feasting on their soft bodies. Its multitude of spines serve a practical purpose: they keep the snail from sinking into soft mud and deter would-be predators by making it hard to swallow​