''Echinogurges clavatus'' 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 ...

Eucyclidae Eucyclidae is a family of gastropods in the superfamily Seguenzioidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). This family has no subfamilies. Genera Genera within the family Eucyclidae include: * '' Amberley ...

Description

(Original description by Watson) The height of the shell attains 4.2 mm. The small shell has a conical shape with a high

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

and a tumid base, a round

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

, and a deep umbilicus. It is covered with sharp prickles. Sculpture. Spirals: There are several small threads, two of which, of equal strength and prominence, angulate 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—one at the basal contraction, the other about halfway up the whorl; On the base they are somewhat closer set. The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

does not meet the carinal thread, but the one below. Longitudinals: The whole surface is crossed by close-set, slightly oblique narrow laminae, which, in crossing the spirals, rise into sharp vaulted prickles whose faces are turned towards the mouth. Colour : white, with a pearly lustre. The spire is very high. The

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex ...

is minute, with the small embryonic 1¼ whorl rising from a minute flat. The shell contains 6¼ whorls, angulated and narrow in the spire, but 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 ...

is inflated and expanded. The suture is deeply impressed, somewhat depressed, and very strongly defined. The perpendicular aperture is round, slightly pointed on the base, and angulated at the upper carina. The outer lip is sharp, advancing far across the body towards the

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

r lip. The columellar lip is depressed upon the umbilicus, then rounded and sinuated, slightly toothed at the point of the pillar. The umbilicus is wide and deep, but internally narrowed. The peculiarly high narrow spire and the vaulted prickles are very characteristic features of this species. When full-grown, there would probably be an additional whorl, which would add a broad base to the high narrow spire. There seems to be some variation in the number of the spirals. Watson R. B. (1878–1883). Mollusca of H. M. S. Challenger Expedition. Journal of the Linnean Society of London
(described as ''Trochus (Margarita) clavatus'')

Distribution

This species occurs in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

, the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

; in the Atlantic Ocean off the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

at depths between 713 m and 1609 m.

References

* 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.

External links

Quinn J.F. Jr (1979). ''Biological results of the University of Miami deep-sea expeditions. 130. The systematics & zoogeography of the gastropod family Trochidae collected in the Straits of Florida & its approaches''. Malacologia, 19(1): 1–62
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echinogurges Clavatus clavatus Gastropods described in 1879