''Aulacofusus herendeeni'' 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 ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

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 ...

Buccinidae, the true whelks.MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Aulacofusus herendeeni (Dall, 1902). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=490740 on 2022-11-22

Description

(Original description as ''Colus (Aulacofusus) nobilis'') The large shell has a length of 85 mm. It is regular, acute, whitish, with a warm yellow-brown persistent periostracum. The shell 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 very minute (lost)

protoconch A protoconch (meaning first or earliest or original shell) is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also called ...

. They are separated by a very sharply defined suture and are elegantly rounded. The spiral

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 of (on the penultimate whorl about 15) flattened revolving close-set cords either in pairs or medially grooved for the most part, practically uniform over the whole shell. The axial sculpture consists only of fine silky incremental lines. The aperture is rather wide with 43 mm. The thin outer lip is expanded, more or less crenulated internally by the effect of the external sculpture. The body and the columella are covered with a thick, continuous coat of enamel. The short

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 ...

is distinct and slightly recurved. The blackish operculum is solidand has an apical nucleus.Dall, W. H. (1919). Descriptions of new species of Mollusca from the North Pacific Ocean in the collection of the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 56 (2295): 293-371.
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Distribution

Tjhis species occurs in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

and off the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

References

* Kosyan A.R. & Kantor Yu.I. (2013). Revision of the genus Aulacofusus Dall, 1918 (Gastropoda: Buccinidae). Ruthenica: The Russian Malacological Journal. 23(1): 1-33.

External links

Dall, W. H. (1902). Illustrations and descriptions of new, unfigured, or imperfectly known shells, chiefly American in the U. S. National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 24 (1264): 499-566, pls 27-40
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13405019 Buccinidae Gastropods described in 1902