Baler shell
Melo melo
- Usual depth21–287 m
- Water temperature22–30 °C
- Best monthsJanuary, February, and October
- How commonRare
About this species
Melo melo, common name the Indian volute or bailer shell, is a very large edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Volutidae, the volutes.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Melo melo”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 3 records
- February: 3 records
- March: 2 records
- April: 0 records
- May: 0 records
- June: 0 records
- July: 0 records
- August: 0 records
- September: 0 records
- October: 4 records
- November: 1 records
- December: 0 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 21–287 m · Deepest record: 287 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 22–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Baler shell, Baler snail, Indian volute, Bailer shell, baler shell, baler snail
Names in 4 more languages
- German
- Indische Walzenschnecke
- Japanese
- ハルカゼガイ
- Thai
- หอยสังข์ทะนาน
- Simplified Chinese
- 椰子渦螺
Other scientific names: Cymbium indicum, Cymbium maculatum, Cymbium melo, Melo indicus, Voluta citrina, Voluta indica, Voluta melo
Similar species
Waved voluteAmoria undulata
Zebra voluteAmoria zebra
Magnificent voluteCymbiola magnifica
Noble voluteCymbiola nobilis
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 56 open-data records from 1786 to 2024.
- Species data updated October 27, 2026.
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