''Chicoreus elisae'' 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 ...

Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.

Description

Original description: "Shell small for the Genus, biconical, with 5-6 teleoconch whorls.
Protoconch unknown. Aperture ovate, well-raised labial sinus continuing inside. Outer lip denticulate. Columellar lip callous, smooth, clearly separated from body of shell. Siphonal canal moderately long (about one-third of the shell), straight. Last teleoconch whorl with three varices and intervarical strong axial ribs with rounded profile. Spiral sculpture consisting of six cords, equally distributed from shoulder to adapical extremity of varix. Three additional cords on siphonal canal. Other spiral sculpture of numerous narrow striae. Short open spines formed where cords cross varices. Shoulder spine stronger.
Ground colour reddish-brown, varices and intervarical ribs dark brown. Dark brown blotches on spiral cords. Peristoma reddish, inside of aperture bluish-white. Operculum brown, covered by dense concentric striae."

Distribution

Locus typicus: "Off Capo Ras Hafun, Horn of Africa, Somalia."Bozzetti, L. 1991-''La Conchiglia, Year XXII, No. 260, July/September'', page 44.
This marine species occurs off

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

References

* Bozzetti, L., 1991. Two new Muricidae from Somalia. La Conchiglia 260: 43-45

External links

MNHN, Paris
Endemic fauna of Somalia Muricidae Gastropods described in 1991 {{Muricidae-stub