Cymbiola rutila

Cymbiola rutila, the blood-red volute, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Volutidae, the volutes.

Description
The shell attains a length of 74 mm.

Habitat
Volutes are predators that live in deep waters,

where they stalk and kill other molluscs.

Volutes do not have a free-swimming larval stage.

Their large egg capsules contain enough food

to allow the embryos to develop over several months.

What emerges from these capsules are tiny but fully formed shells.

Volutes tend to spend their life in colonies, and have small home ranges.

Distribution
This marine species occurs off New Britain and Western Australia.