Titanostrombus galeatus
| Titanostrombus galeatus | |
|---|---|
| Apertural view of a shell of Titanostrombus galeatus from a museum collection | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Littorinimorpha |
| Family: | Strombidae |
| Genus: | Titanostrombus |
| Species: | T. galeatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Titanostrombus galeatus (Swainson, 1823) | |
| Synonyms | |
Titanostrombus galeatus, the Eastern Pacific giant conch, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs and their allies.
It is an eastern Pacific species that occurs from the Gulf of California to Peru.
The shells of this species were used as a wind instruments by the Chavín, an ancient civilization from the northern Andean highlands of Peru. They are still used for this purpose in the Andes, where they are known as pututu.