Buccinum undatum

Buccinum undatum, the common whelk or waved buccinum, is a large, edible marine gastropod in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks, found throughout the northern Atlantic, including the shores of the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Norway, Iceland, other northwest European countries, Arctic islands, and North America as far south as New Jersey. Its solid, ovate-conical shell has 7 to 8 convex whorls and reaches up to 10 centimeters in height and 6 centimeters in width, with vertical wavy folds crossed by prominent spiral lines on its surface; its color ranges from pale white to yellowish or reddish, with a bright yellowish-brown periostracum when the animal is alive, and a broadly oval aperture tapering to a deeply notched siphonal canal. It is temperature-sensitive and cannot survive above 29 degrees Celsius, preferring soft bottoms in sublittoral zones with adequate salinity; population declines have been documented since the 1970s, particularly in the North Sea and Wadden Sea.