Family Tonnidae

Tun Shells

Tuns are large thin snails with soft parts too large to retract into the shell.  There is no operculum.  They emerge from sand at night to feed upon sea cucumbers.  Live animals are rarely seen by divers except at night and appear to be more common in very deep water where hermit-crabbed specimens are trapped. Egg masses are coiled gelatinous ribbons with rows of beige eggs.

HAWAII - ENDEMIC

Tonna hawaiiensis  HAWAIIAN BLACK-MOUTHED TUN

INDO-PACIFIC / HAWAII