Whelk

The Veined rapa whelk is the largest Black Sea snail. Actually, it is not exactly Black Sea specific - until the mid-20th century it was distributed only in the seas of the Far East. Probably attached to the bottom of ships or in their ballast waters, the whelk came to the Black Sea. From here it spread to the Sea of Azov and later to the Mediterranean. By the end of the 20th century, the whelk had already reached the shores of America.

The Veined rapa whelk is an exceptional predator - it feeds mostly on mussels, destroying them in large quantities. It is the introduction of the whelk into the Black Sea that has faced the local ecosystem with a real catastrophe - in a very short time it has almost completely destroyed the stock of black clam and other species of mussels living in the sandy bottom. Until now, these species have not had such a ferocious enemy and have hardly been able to adapt to its presence.

On the other hand, there is no natural predator here to reduce whelk numbers. Species such as this are called invasive - they are transported accidentally or with the help of humans to new places and native species have no protection. However, nature has had its say and the whelk and other species now live in relative equilibrium. This has been helped by man starting to hunt whelk - they are a great delicacy, and this has led to their numbers declining.
But collecting it with trawls destroys the seabed and so destroys the habitats of hundreds of other marine life.

The whelk inhabits shallow coastal areas and do not go into the deep because of the low temperature there. It lays eggs that resemble alien cocoons, which can often be seen attached to rocks, clam shells and snails.