Characteristic of this group is their long siphon which they wave about as they move accoss the bottom in order to detect prey, which usually consists of decaying animals such as fish and crabs. They also hunt for the source of chemicals given off by living prey such as bivalves.
At night time they are quite active, and the beauty of the remarkably colorful living animals can be seen as they crawl across the bottom.
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Nassarius papillosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Nassarius papillosus is one of the two largest species of this family at Kwaj, with the largest specimens reaching at least 41.7mm. It is a very common species, often seen on lagoon, pinnacle and seaward reefs out foraging at night. It can also commonly be found in sand under rocks during the day, or even buried in small pockets of sand collected on the tops of lagoon pinnacles on on the shallow seaward reef. A very active shell, it can move quickly. It appears to be a favorite food of the large textile cone Conus textile, but is often able to escape being eaten by twisting its foot and hopping away from a predatory cone. It is commonly called the "pimpled basket" for obvious reasons.
Its egg capsules are small round balls deposited close together on the undersurfaces of rocks.
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