Cassis cornuta

Horned helmet

Cassis cornuta, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw

Cassis cornuta, Obverse, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw

1 / 3

Same Genus

Cassis fimbriata

Cassis tuberosa

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific

Description

A very solid, heavy, rotund shell with large, horn-like knobs and a wide, flat base. Dorsally pale orange, base vivid orange, faintly marked with white and brown. The largest of all helmet shells.

Information

Max Size: 35 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 23.9-29.6°C

Depth: N/A

Habitat Generalization Index: N/A

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.

Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Infrequent (3.8% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Solitary (1 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.

Edit by: Ian Shaw