---
title: "Knobbed Whelk"
description: "Busycon carica — Other animals. The knobbed whelk (Busycon carica) is a species of very large predatory sea snail, or in the US, a whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/knobbed-whelk
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Knobbed Whelk

> Busycon carica — Other animals. The knobbed whelk (Busycon carica)  is a species of  very large predatory sea snail, or in the US, a whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks.

- Scientific name: *Busycon carica*
- Category: `other` (Other animals)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 6760
- Wikidata: [Q310059](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q310059)
- iNaturalist taxon: [208724](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/208724)

## Names

- en: Knobbed Whelk
- de: Stachlige Feige

## Countries with the most observations

US (5587)

## Summary

The knobbed whelk (Busycon carica)  is a species of  very large predatory sea snail, or in the US, a whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Busyconidae, the busycon whelks.
The knobbed whelk is the second largest species of busycon whelk, ranging in size up to 12 in (305 mm).

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knobbed_whelk

## Photo

![Knobbed Whelk](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/knobbed-whelk/medium.jpg)

Photo: Nonbinary-Naturalist · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176136191

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/knobbed-whelk?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).