''Clavatula decorata'' 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

Clavatulidae Clavatulidae is a taxonomic family of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. The family is not well differentiated morphologically. Clavatulidae was raised, based on cladistic analysis, from subfamily to the family ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 21 mm, its width 8 mm. (From the original description) The fusiform shell is one of striking character. The spire is acutely turreted and contains 10 whorls. The

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 are unusually concave, with a stout prominent keel, crossed by numerous oblong somewhat oblique white tubercles or short plicae, which are rendered more conspicuous by a brown intersecting spiral line.Sowerby, G.B., III. (1916) ''Descriptions of seven new species of Mollusca belonging to the genera Drillia, Clavatula, Epitonium, Cantharidus, Bittium, Fissurella, and Cardium''. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, 12, 74–76, pl. 3.
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off Sierra Leone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clavatula Decorata decorata Gastropods described in 1916