''Aforia persimilis'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cochlespiridae Cochlespiridae is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. This family is not well differentiated morphologically, and there is poor congruence betwe ...

.Sartori, André F. (2015). Aforia persimilis (Dall, 1890). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=745091 on 2016-07-07 There is one subspecies: ''Aforia persimilis blanca'' (Dall, 1919)

Description

The length of the shell attains 95 mm, its diameter 32 mm. The large, white shell has a fusiform shape with a pale olive periostracum. The acute

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

contains eight

whorl A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

s, exclusive of the (lost) nucleus, each carrying a peripheral keel. The suture is distinct. The whorls behind the periphery are somewhat flattened, with a shallow constriction just behind the keel. The axial

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

consists only of incremental lines. The spiral sculpture between the suture and periphery consists of numerous fiat, subequal, strap-like bands separated by narrower, shallow channels. The periphery shows a low, rather wide prominence, giving the effect of a keel and sculptured with several similar but larger, stronger and more distant bands, tending to arrange themselves in pairs, and with a fine, subsidiary spiral striation upon them. This sculpture extends over the anterior half of the whorl, becoming finer and closer on the

siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is ...

. The

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is elongate. The sharp outer lip is thin. There is a wide, deep, anal sulcus on the posterior slope of the whorl about midway between the suture and the periphery. The anterior part of the lip is arcuate, protractive. The body with the sculpture erased is white and polished. The columella is short, twisted, in front obliquely truncate and gyrate, but not axially pervious. There is a touch of brown on the edge. The siphonal canal is wide, elongate, slightly recurved, with no fasciole. The operculum is brown, oval, the exterior imbricately lamellose with the nucleus inside the apical end which is bluntly rounded.W.H. Dall (1908) Reports on the Mollusca and Brachiopoda, Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. vol. 43
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Distribution

This marine species is found from the Gulf of Panama to Southwest

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The subspecies Aforia persimilis blanca was found off Cape Blanco, Oregon, United States, North Pacific Ocean at a depth of 1946 m.

References

* Sysoev, A.V. & Kantor, Yu.I. (1987a) ''Deep-sea gastropods of the genus Aforia (Turridae) of the Pacific: species composition, systematics, and functional morphology of the digestive system''. The Veliger, 30, 105–126.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aforia Persimilis persimilis Gastropods described in 1890