Ecological studies on the
oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea, in Delaware Bay, with notes on the associated drill, Eupleura caudata and with practical consideration of control methods.
(2010) showed that the Southern
oyster drill (Stramonita haemastoma Linnaeus 1767) is an important predator of oysters and other bivalves in coastal habitats.
Inducible defenses in the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica Gmelin in response to the presence of the predatory
oyster drill Urosalpinx cinerea Say in Long Island Sound.
The parasitic
oyster drill is a particularly deadly nemesis.
The Florida rocksnail Stramonita haemastoma (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mollusca: Thaididae), a species of
oyster drill, occurs in the Americas from North Carolina to Florida, Texas, northern South America, and along the coasts of Brazil and Uruguay (Rios, 2009).
Oysters have a number of predators, most notably the starfish and the
oyster drill, a snail that bores a neat hole in the oyster's shell and feeds on the soft parts within.
Fine structure and vital staining of osphradium of the southern
oyster drill, Thais haemastoma canaliculata (Gray) (Prosobranchia: Muricidae).
In other cases, recognized species are distributed more or less continuously along the length of the Florida coast, yet their populations may display pronounced genetic differences between Atlantic versus Gulf of Mexico locales (tiger beetle, Vogler and DeSalle 1993; stone crab, Bert 1986; Bert and Harrison 1988; southern
oyster drill, Liu et al.
Size-specific aspects of the foraging ecology of the southern
oyster drill Stramonita haemastoma.
A minor predator is the Gulf
oyster drill, Urosalpinx perrugata.
This observation is consistent with a general reduction in activity of oyster predators, such as the
oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea), during winter months (Stauber 1950), as well as prior research that identified little over-winter mortality of oysters in Delaware Bay (Powell & Ashton-Alcox 2013).
In Hampton Roads, salinities are above 15%, and the most damaging predator is the Atlantic
oyster drill.