Species profile
Channeled Basket Snail
Caesia fossata
At a glance
Channeled Basket Snail (Caesia fossata) is a marine snail present across the CatchRules coverage area but without species-specific bag, size, or season rules tracked in our regulatory dataset.
Confirmed by 1,160 research-grade iNaturalist observations, with California, British Columbia, and Oregon the top jurisdictions by observation count.
Notable details
- A highly sensitive scavenger that can detect decaying flesh from several meters away.
- Found along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Baja California in sandy and muddy habitats.
- One of the fastest-moving snails on the seafloor when homing in on a food source.
- Reaches about 1 inch (25 mm) in shell length, with a channeled suture between whorls.
- Often spotted surging rapidly across tidal flats in groups, all converging on the same carcass.
Where Channeled Basket Snail are seen
Background
Nassarius fossatus, the channeled basket snail, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Nassariidae, the nassa mud snails or dog whelks. It is native to the west coast of North America where it is found on mudflats on the foreshore and on sand and mud in shallow water.
Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Channeled Basket Snail article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.
Other marine snails (whelk/conch) on CatchRules
Photo credit: iNaturalist / Wikipedia. Identification reference only — verify regulations with the issuing wildlife agency before retaining a catch.