Case study on the harvesting of dead Turbinella pyrum along Thoothukudi coast

Kavitha, M and Ranjith, L and Veera Venthan, K R and Linga Prabu, D and Edward, Loveson (2025) Case study on the harvesting of dead Turbinella pyrum along Thoothukudi coast. Marine Fisheries Information Service; Technical and Extension Series (264) (264). pp. 17-20. ISSN 0254-380X

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Abstract

Turbinella pyrum (Linnaeus, 1767), commonly known as the sacred chank (family Turbinellidae) holds cultural and religious significance, as well as used in handicrafts industries of South Asia. T. pyrum is considered endemic to the Indian subcontinent, distributed across the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and the Southeastern Arabian Sea and slightly, to the Sri Lankan waters. T. pyrum is ecologically significant and has been commercially harvested from the Gulf of Mannar region because of its ornamental shells and juicy meat (Hornell, 1914). It is generally distributed in sandy bottoms between 10 and 27 m in depth (Hornell, 1922; Nayar and Mahadevan, 1974). The dead chank refers to the empty white shell of T. pyrum, which has lost both its soft tissues and periostracum, and remains buried in the seabed.

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