The “Wheel-like Star” is a handsomely spinous turbinid ranging from Okinawa, Japan to Philippines to Malaysia to Queensland, Australia. An algae-grazing gastropod inhabiting mostly hard substrates such as rocks, it is a very common shallow water dweller inhabiting very shallow intertidal water to about -30m deep.

The number of spines per whorl may vary from eight to 14; the length also vary greatly and long-spined specimens are often referred to as A. calcar f. aculeatus (Gmelin, 1791). In natural condition it is almost always heavily encrusted by various overgrowth and cleaning can be a time consuming and laborious task. Typical shell diameter around 35mm, very large specimens may reach 60mm. – adapted from Chong Chen’s post

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