Drupella cornus
Drupella cornus, common name : the horn drupe, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. Description. The shell size of an adult varies between 28 mm and 40 mm. This whitish shell shows four rows of spiny, pointed nodules with numerous smaller spines between. The oval aperture is yellow. The outer lip is with three to four teeth. "Drupella cornus" lays benthic egg capsules, which hatch into free-swimming planktonic veliger larvae "Drupella cornus" is a predator of living coral, grazing on the coral tissue. An  abundance of this snail can cause significant destruction to the hard-coral cover on reefs. There is a possible link between coral diseases and an outbreak of this snail. The snail is attracted to "Montipora" corals when these corals secrete montiporic acids Habitat. "Drupella cornus" commonly occurs on or under tabular corals of the genera "Acropora" and "Montipora" or on hard substrates in the lower intertidal zone and shallow sublittoral zone. In areas where "Acropora" and "Montipora" coral are rare, "D. Cornus" has also been known to feed on other corals such as "Porites" in Kenya, and "Pocillopora" and "Porites