''Ethminolia iridifulgens'' 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 Trochidae, the top snails.
Description
The height of the shell attains 4 mm, its diameter 6 mm. The umbilicate shell has a conical shape. It has five, striated, ventricose
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 two apical whorls are white. 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 ...
increases rapidly in size and is rotund at the periphery. The
umbilicus goes deep. The aperture is rotund and has a fine
lip. The
columella is simple. This rare, very fragile shell is brilliantly nacreous. Its colour is green, with violet and blue iris hues occurring. The somewhat fugitive outer cuticle shows rufous flames, depicted on a greyish ground.
J.C. Melvill (1910), Descriptions of Twenty-nine Species of Marine Mollusca from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and North Arabian Sea, mostly collected by Mr. F. W. Towns-end, of the Indo-European Telegraph Service; Annals & Magazine of Natural History vol. 6, ser. 8
(described as ''Solariella iridifulgens'')
Distribution
This species occurs in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman
The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ar, خليج عمان ''khalīj ʿumān''; fa, دریای عمان ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ar, خلیج مکران ''khalīj makrān''; fa, دریای مکرا ...
.
References
* Bosch D.T., Dance S.P., Moolenbeek R.G. & Oliver P.G. (1995) ''Seashells of eastern Arabia''. Dubai: Motivate Publishing. 296 pp.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ethminolia Iridifulgens
iridifulgens
Gastropods described in 1910