''Cavolinia tridentata'' 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 butterflies Sea butterflies, scientific name Thecosomata (thecosomes, "case / shell-body"), are a taxonomic suborder of small pelagic swimming sea snails. They are holoplanktonic opisthobranch gastropod mollusks. Most Thecosomata have some form of calcified ...

, floating and swimming

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 ...

s or

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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 ...

s in the family

Cavoliniidae The family Cavoliniidae is a taxonomic group of small floating sea snails, pelagic marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks.Gofas, S. (2011). Cavoliniidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/ap ...

Formae

* ''Cavolinia tridentata'' f. ''affinis'' (d'Orbigny, 1836) * ''Cavolinia tridentata'' f. ''kraussi'' Tesch, 1913 * ''Cavolinia tridentata'' f. ''tridentata'' (Forskål, 1775)

Description

The maximum recorded

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

length is 20 mm.

Distribution

This marine species has a wide distribution: European waters, the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean (Azores, Cape Verde), the Northwest Atlantic (Gulf of Maine), Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Lesser Antilles, Indian Ocean (

Mascarene The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their ...

Basin), the Indo-Pacific and off New Zealand.

Habitat

Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. Maximum recorded depth is 4791 m.

Notes

References

* Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). ''Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice'' * Rosenberg, G. 1992. ''Encyclopedia of Seashells''. Dorset: New York. 224 pp. page(s): 122 * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification.'' Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213 * Rolán E., 2005. ''Malacological Fauna From The Cape Verde Archipelago. Part 1, Polyplacophora and Gastropoda'' * Willan, R. (2009). Opisthobranchia (Mollusca). In: Gordon, D. (Ed.) (2009). ''New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume One: Kingdom Animalia''. 584 pp * Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. ''Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico'', Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas. * Janssen A.W. (2012) ''Late Quaternary to Recent holoplanktonic Mollusca (Gastropoda) from bottom samples of the eastern Mediterranean Sea: systematics, morphology.'' Bollettino Malacologico 48 (suppl. 9): 1-105. Cavoliniidae Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Indian Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Molluscs of the Azores Gastropods of Cape Verde Molluscs described in 1775 Taxa named by Peter Forsskål {{Heterobranchia-stub