Abstract

Melo melo (Lightfoot, 1786) is a large, predatory marine gastropod distributed in the shallow waters of Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Hong Kong, and other countries within the Southeast Asian region. The M. melo can be distinguished based on the large orange globose-ovate shaped shell without spines (Poutiers, 1998). The body colour of M. melo is unique among its congeners, being cream in colour with stripes ranging from brown to black in colour (Morton, 1986). Figure 1 illustrates an outline sketch of M. melo and its external anatomy.

Keywords: Gastropoda, Volutidae, Melo melo, feeding, diet, prey