''Clanculus gemmulifer'' 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
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
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* Marine life
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* ...
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.
[Bouchet, P. (2012). ''Clanculus gemmulifer'' Pilsbry, 1901. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=547260 on 2012-11-23]
Description
The height of the shell attains 12 mm. The solid shell has a low-trochiform shape. It is angular at the periphery and slightly convex beneath. The ground color is red or dull red. The
sculpture of the spiral cords cuts into smooth rounded beads. These cords are a little narrower than the intervals on the upper surface, smaller on the base and about equal in width to their intervals. Above the periphery on the
body whorl
The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk.
In gastropods
In gastropods, the b ...
there are five rows of beads, all of them dotted, either having a black interval between two white beads, or with a black and a white bead. The intervals consist of two or three red beads. The base of the shell is similarly variegated, but the dots are sometimes brown. Furrows between the bead-rows are finely and densely decussate by spiral and oblique raised striae or threads. The
spire is straightly conic with an acute, roseate apex and about six
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. The body whorl is deflexed in front. The
aperture is oblique, and contracted by a simple, rather compressed fold at the foot of the
columella, and another near the upper end of the outer
lip with several small folds between them. The columella is contorted above and enters deeply the false umbilicus, the margin of which is toothed. The parietal callus is strongly plicate.
There is a subspecies ''Clanculus gemmulifer'' var. ''pallidus''
H. A. Pilsbry, 1903 which differs by its pale, yellowish-brown tint and some indistinct, paler, radial flames. Only a few of the lirae have sparse, black beads, each between two white ones.
The Nautilus v.17 (1903-1904)
/ref>
Distribution
This marine species occurs in the Indo-Pacific and off Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
References
* Pilsbry, H.A. 1901. ''New Mollusca from Japan, the Loo Choo Islands, Formosa and the Philippines''. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 53: 193-210. page(s): 200
External links
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (7 publications)
To Encyclopedia of Life
To World Register of Marine Species
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5125678
gemmulifer
Gastropods described in 1901