This find a few hundred years ago would have made him rich, especially if the shell had been bigger. Collectors paid a fortune for them including Francis I (1708-1765), Holy Roman Emperor, as well as Empresses and Queens of European houses from a period of history of which my knowledge is zero. The shell was so coveted that it is not at all surprising to find that Chinese workers made fakes using rice flour.
The shell is unusual in that the whorls of the spiral are not fused, as in, say, a whelk. The rigid external latticework of varices which give the mollusc its distinctive appearance hold the whorls together. The descriptive name of wentletrap is derived from the Dutch for spiral staircase.
These animals are said to prey on anemones and corals.
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