---
title: "Atlantic Dogwhelk"
description: "Nucella lapillus — Altri animali. The dog whelk, dogwhelk, or Atlantic dogwinkle (Nucella lapillus) is a species of predatory sea snail, a carnivorous marine gastropod in the family Muricidae, the rock snails."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/atlantic-dogwhelk
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Atlantic Dogwhelk

> Nucella lapillus — Altri animali. The dog whelk, dogwhelk, or Atlantic dogwinkle (Nucella lapillus) is a species of predatory sea snail, a carnivorous marine gastropod in the family Muricidae, the rock snails.

- Scientific name: *Nucella lapillus*
- Category: `other` (Altri animali)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 10247
- Wikidata: [Q1720317](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1720317)
- iNaturalist taxon: [203761](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/203761)

## Names

- en: Atlantic Dogwhelk
- de: Nordische Purpurschnecke
- fr: Pourpre petite pierre
- nl: Purperslak

## Countries with the most observations

GB (3478), US (2011), CA (1593), FR (1151), IE (376), PT (213), NO (199), IS (193), ES (171), JE (52), DK (43), BE (35)

## Summary

The dog whelk, dogwhelk, or Atlantic dogwinkle (Nucella lapillus) is a species of predatory sea snail, a carnivorous marine gastropod in the family Muricidae, the rock snails.
Nucella lapillus was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Buccinum lapillus (the basionym).

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

## Photo

![Atlantic Dogwhelk](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/atlantic-dogwhelk/medium.jpg)

Photo: Allison · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/237379641

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/atlantic-dogwhelk?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).