Turbo Sarmaticus from South Africa (rare!) Very decorative in living and working situation.

Turbo sarmaticus is a sea snail species that belongs to the family Turbinidae and the genus Turbo. There is still no Dutch name for this species described in 1758 by Linnaeus. Turbo sarmaticus is an omnivore that lives in shallow warm water on the rock bottom (sublittoral and circumlittoral) on the west and south coast of Africa (Senegalese and South African province), where it is also eaten.

The length of the shell varies between 40 mm and 120 mm. The imperforate shell has a globose-depressed shape.Its color pattern is dull brownish, above flammulated, below more or less banded or maculate with white, usually showing more or less of the underlying orange-red layer, between which and the nacre there is a stratum of intense black. The very short spire is conic. The 5-6 whorls are convex but concave above. The upper ones contain revolving lirae. They are frequently carinated, the last traversed by several rows of nodules, of which the coronal is the more prominent and constant. The large, orbicular aperture is very oblique and beautifully nacreous within. The outer lip is thin, margined with intense black within. The nacre does not extend to the edge. The arcuate columella is wide, slightly produced below, broadly excavated above. The parietal wall is eroded, showing a black blotch.
The operculum is flat within. It contains 5-6 whorls and a submedian nucleus. The outer surface is convex, whitish, and covered with calcareous pustules on the exterior side.