Relevant Synonyms - Misidentification Trochus kockii Philippi, 1844 [misspelling for kochii Tillier and Bavay, 1905]  photo: S. Gofas / Coll. G. Bitar

SHORT DESCRIPTION Shell large, regularly conical with a flat base and an acute peripheral angle, nearly as high as broad. Whorls covered with a sculpture of poorly defined spiral cords, more or less beaded and crossed by oblique axial folds running from the suture to mid-whorl. Umbilicus broad and deep, with the columella reaching inside. Columella sinuous, but not bearing a definite tooth. color : white with reddish brown flames which may be confluent to cover the whole surface; aperture and inside of umbilicus nacreous; a two-color ed band, white/orange, circling the umbilicus. common size : 35 mm broad, 32 mm high. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS This species cannot be mistaken for any Mediterranean native. The real Trochus kochi Philippi, 1844, a related species from Southern Arabia, has a lower profile, distinct tooth on the columella and lacks the color bands around the umbilicus. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Unknown. habitat : shallow rocky bottoms (2-2.5 m) (Barash and Danin, 1992).

1st Mediterranean record Israel, 1973 [1968]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide: Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Persian Gulf; recorded in the Suez Canal by Tillier and Bavay (1905, as Trochus kockii). Mediterranean: recorded first in 1968 from Shiqmona, Israel (Barash and Danin, 1973); successively from Port Said, Egypt (Ghisotti, 1974a); Cyprus (Tornaritis, 1987); Lebanon (Bogi and Khairalla, 1987); Gulf of Iskenderun, Turkey (Engl, 1995); Crete, Greece (Cosenza and Fasulo, 1997). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Moderately common in the Eastern Mediterranean. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Progressive penetration through the Suez Canal. Northward progression in the canal to Kantara noted with records by Tomlin (1927). IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Barash A. and Danin Z., 1973. The Indo-Pacific species of Mollusca in the Mediterranean and notes on a collection from the Suez Canal. Israel Journal of Zoology, 21(3-4): 301-374 [Trochus erithraeus p. 305]. Cosenza G. and Fasulo G., 1997. The littoral shelled mollusks of the Island of Crete. La Conchiglia, 284: 51-58. Ghisotti F., 1974a. Recente penetrazione in Mediterraneo di molluschi marini di provenienza Indo-Pacifica. Quaderni della, Civica statione idrobiologica di Milano, 5: 7-19.   Tomlin J.R. le B., 1927. Report on the Mollusca (Amphineura, Gastropoda, Scaphopoda, Pelecypoda). Zoological Results of the Cambridge Expedition to the Suez Canal, 1924. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 22: 291-320. Tornaritis G., 1987. Mediterranean Sea Shells. Cyprus. Nicosia, published by the author. 190 p. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

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