page_title: Scotch bonnet (sea snail)
section_title: Predators
hierarchical_section_title: Scotch bonnet (sea snail) / Ecology / Predators
caption_attribution_description: English: A female Atlantic Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) in the permanent collection of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis Русский: Самка Атлантического голубого краба (Callinectes sapidus) в постоянной коллекции Детского музея Индианаполиса
context_page_description: The Scotch bonnet is a medium-sized to large species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the subfamily Cassinae, the helmet shells and bonnet shells. The common name "Scotch bonnet" alludes to the general outline and color pattern of the shell, which vaguely resemble a tam o' shanter, a traditional Scottish bonnet or cap. The shell is egg-shaped and fairly large, 2 to 4 inches in maximum dimension, with a regular pattern of yellow, orange or brown squarish spots. The surface sculpture of the shell is highly variable: the surface can be smooth and polished, have grooves, be granulated, or even be nodulose on the shoulder of the whorls.
  This species lives intertidally and subtidally on sandy substrates, and is found primarily in the tropical and subtropical Western Atlantic Ocean, from North Carolina to Uruguay. It is the most common species in this subfamily in North America. A similar-appearing sea snail in the Mediterranean Sea and Northern Atlantic Ocean, Semicassis undulata, is currently considered to be a separate species.
context_section_description: The Scotch bonnet is preyed upon by vertebrates, such as fish, and invertebrates, including crabs such as the blue crab and the Florida stone crab. Crabs can crush the snail's shell, eating the soft internal organs and muscle tissue. The snail's only defense mechanism against predation is to draw its body into the shell. By doing so, they can at least partially close the aperture using the operculum.
caption: The Blue crab sometimes feeds on the Scotch Bonnet.
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