One animal that it is referred to the Mediterranean culture is Atlantic trumpet Triton or Charonia variegata. This specie used to be called Charonia tritonis variegata and that's the reason of confusion with his Indo-Pacific cousin Charonia tritonis (which used to be called Charonia tritonis tritonis). In Mediterranean Sea we can meet one more member of the family the Charonia lampas which can grow bigger than C.variegata but it is relatively rare to meet it at the eastern part of Mediterranean sea.
Tritons take their name by an ancient god of Greeks who was the messenger of the sea and son of Poseidon. They also called trumpet because of their shape and of the fact that their shell was used by the ancient civilization as a trumpet. The bad habit of the divers collecting the Tritons for their shells is a danger for their population. If we like their shell we have to wait until we found an empty one at the beach. Also we should avoid buying this shells at markets. It is said that it lives more than 20 years.
It feeds mainly on seastars and other molluscs. It is makes big distances to find a seastar and it likes moving straight-line undisturbed by any blocks. They have separated sexes.
Photo and video taken at my beloved Apothika beach at Chios.
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