''Agagus agagus'' is a species of

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 in the family Trochidae, the top snails.

Description

The shell grows to a length of 9 mm, its diameter 10 mm. The umbilicate shell has a depressed conical shape with a swollen base. Its color is a vivid white with green spots. It contains 6½ sharp declining

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 with longitudinal oblique striae and spiral ribs. The aperture is subquadrangular. The outer lip is sharp.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean off Tanzania and South Africa.

References

* Kilburn, R. N. 1972. ''Taxonomic notes on South African marine Mollusca (2), with the description of new species and subspecies of Conus, Nassarius, Vexillum and Demoulia''. Annals of the Natal Museum 21(2):391-437, 15 figs * Kilburn, R.N. & Rippey, E. (1982) ''Sea Shells of Southern Africa''. Macmillan South Africa, Johannesburg, xi + 249 pp. page(s): 41 * Herbert D.G. (1991). ''A revision of the genus Agagaus Jousseaume, 1894 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Trochidae)''. Journal of Natural History 25:883-900. * Richmond, M. (Ed.) (1997). ''A guide to the seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean islands''. Sida/Department for Research Cooperation, SAREC: Stockholm, Sweden. . 448 pp.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4690980 Trochidae Fauna of the Red Sea Gastropods described in 1894 Taxa named by Félix Pierre Jousseaume