''Colus gracilis'' 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 ...

Buccinidae The Buccinidae are a very large and diverse taxonomic family of large sea snails, often known as whelks or true whelks.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Buccinidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. A ...

, the true whelks and the like.

Description

A smooth form with flatter whorls, 40 to 100 mm in length, but a highly variable species that occurs in several morphologically different geographical and bathymetrical forms; these forms may look identical over large areas, then give an impression that several near species are involved. Revision of the Northeast Atlantic bathyal and abyssal neogastropoda, by Ph.Bouchet

Distribution

References

* Thorson G. (1944). The Zoology of East Greenland. Marine Gastropoda Prosobranchiata. Meddelelser om Grønland 121 (13): 1-181 * Howson, C.M.; Picton, B.E. (1997). The species directory of the marine fauna and flora of the British Isles and surrounding seas. Ulster Museum Publication, 276. The Ulster Museum: Belfast, UK. . vi, 508 (+ cd-rom) pp.

External links

Da Costa, Mendes E. (1778). Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, or, the British conchology; containing the descriptions and other particulars of natural history of the shells of Great Britain and Ireland: illustrated with figures. In English and French. - Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, ou, la conchologie Britannique; contenant les descriptions & autres particularités d'histoire naturelle des coquilles de la Grande Bretagne & de l'Irlande: avec figures en taille douce. En anglois & françois., i-xii, 1-254, i-vii, [1
Pl. I-XVII. London. (Millan, White, Emsley & Robson)]
Kobelt, W. (1876). Beiträge zur arctischen Fauna. Jahrbücher der Deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft. 3: 61-76, 165-180.

Jeffreys J.G. (1862-1869). British conchology. Vol. 1: pp. cxiv + 341 [1862
Vol. 2: pp. 479 [1864">862">Jeffreys J.G. (1862-1869). British conchology. Vol. 1: pp. cxiv + 341 [1862
Vol. 2: pp. 479 [1864 Vol. 3: pp. 394 [1865]. Vol. 4: pp. 487 [1867]. Vol. 5: pp. 259 [1869]. London, van Voorst.]
Harmer F.W. (1914-1918). The Pliocene Mollusca of Great Britain, being supplementary to S.V. Wood's monograph of the Crag Mollusca. Vol. 1. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society. 67(330): 1-200, pl. 1-24 (part 1, February 1914); 68(333): 201-302, pl. 25-32 (part 2, July 1915); 70 (337): 303- 461, pl. 33-44 (part 3, February 1918); 71(341): i-xii, 463-483 (part 4, April 1919).

Locard A. (1896) Mollusques testacés et brachiopodes, pp. 129-242, pl. 5-6, in: Koehler R. (1896) Résultats scientifiques de le campagne du "Caudan" dans le Golfe de Gascogne. Annales de l'Université de Lyon, 26

Middendorff T. A. von. (1849). Beiträge zur einer Malacozoologica Rossica, II. Aufzählung und Beschreibung der zur Meeresfauna Russlands gehörigen Einschaler. Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St-Petersbourg, sixième série, Sciences naturelles. 6: 329-516, pl. 1-11

Bouchet, P.; Warén, A. (1985). Revision of the Northeast Atlantic bathyal and abyssal Neogastropoda excluding Turridae (Mollusca, Gastropoda). Bollettino Malacologico. supplement 1: 121-296

Serge GOFAS, Ángel A. LUQUE, Joan Daniel OLIVER,José TEMPLADO & Alberto SERRA (2021) - The Mollusca of Galicia Bank (NE Atlantic Ocean); European Journal of Taxonomy 785: 1–114
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3140343 Buccinidae Gastropods described in 1778 Taxa named by Emanuel Mendes da Costa