Turrid

[4] Turrids constituted more than half of the predatory species of gastropods in some parts of the world (Taylor et al.

They occur from the low-intertidal zone to depths of more than eight thousand metres (e.g., Xanthodaphne levis Sysoev, 1988, collected between 7974–8006 m, in the Bougainville Trench).

The aperture of the shell very often has a V-shaped sinus or notch, an indentation on the upper end of the outer lip.

Most species have a poison gland used with the toxoglossan radula, used to prey on vertebrates and invertebrate animals (mostly polychaete worms) or in self-defense.

The turrids were perceived as one of the most difficult groups to study because of a large number of supra-specific described taxa,[8] which are complicated by their species diversity.

[9] Although some species of turrids are relatively common, many are rare, some being known only from single specimens; this is another factor that makes studying the group difficult.

The previous (2005) classification system for the group was thoroughly changed by the publication in 2011 of the article Bouchet P., Kantor Yu.I., Sysoev A.