The “Kuroda’s Snipe’s Bill” is an elegant Western Pacific muricid with a long siphonal canal, ranging from the Arafura Sea to the Philippines. A carnivorous and predatory gastropod, it is nocturnal and inhabits sandy bottoms around -10~80m deep.

Though some authors used to consider it a synonym of Haustellum haustellum (Linnaeus, 1758), it is actually clearly separable from that species based on shell characteristics, especially the protoconch which is characteristic of lecithotrophy in H. kurodai and planktotrophy in H. haustellum.

It is most similar and sometimes confused with another Philippines species, H. vicdani, which differs by having a completely smooth siphonal canal with no spines, as well as having a generally more purple colouration. Typical shell length around 120mm, very large specimens may exceed 145mm. – Adapted from Chong Chen’s post