See text The Ranellidae, common name the triton shells or tritons, are a taxonomic family of small to very large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Littorinimorpha.

[1] The Tritons are principally equatorial in their geographical distribution, and belong more especially to the Asiatic fauna.

Those with the siphonal canal very much produced are obtained from deep water.

The cancellated forms are from sand, in deep water; and those covered with an epidermis are chiefly from sandy mud, in from six to thirty fathoms.

[2] According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005, the family Ranellidae consisted of two subfamilies: The Cymatiinae now form a separate family: Cymatiidae.