Cenchritis muricatus is a species of sea snail in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles. It occurs in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Lesser Antilles.Reid, D. G. (2014). Cenchritis muricatus (Linnaeus, 1758). World Register of Marine Species. Accessed 2 September 2014. It is known commonly as the beaded periwinkle.Díaz-Ferguson, E., et al. (2012). Journal of Molluscan Studies 78(1) 112-18.
This snail often crawls out of the water and climbs vertical rocky cliffs to heights of over 14 meters, where it avoids desiccation and overheating by hiding in moist crevices.Judge, M. L., et al. (2009). Life in the supralittoral fringe: Microhabitat choice, mobility and growth in the tropical periwinkle Cenchritis (=Tectarius) muricatus (Linneaus [sic], 1758). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 369(2) 148–54.
References
Further reading
Reid, D. G. (1989a). The comparative morphology, phylogeny and evolution of the gastropod family Littorinidae. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 324: 1–110. Rosenberg, G., et al. 2009. Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D. L. and D. K. Camp (eds.). Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.