''Eucithara hirasei'' is a small

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 * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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

Mangeliidae Mangeliidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized, predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. Bouchet, P. (2011). Mangeliidae P. Fischer, 1883. In: MolluscaBase (2016). Accessed through: World Regis ...

.WoRMS (2009). Eucithara hirasei. In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=433732 on 2017-05-19

Description

The length of the shell varies between 3 mm and 10.4 mm. (Original description) The shell has an irregularly biconic shap, resembling '' Eucithara decussata'' (Pease, 1868). and '' Eucithara delacouriana'' (Crosse, 1869) in shape. The shell is thick and solid. Its color is whitish, indistinctly marked with about 4 yellowish spots on the front slope of each rib, and corresponding brown spots on the lip-

varix A varix (pl. varices) is an abnormally dilated vessel with a tortuous course. Varices usually occur in the venous system, but may also occur in arterial or lymphatic vessels. Examples of varices include: * Varicose veins, large tortuous veins usua ...

, and with a band composed of 4 to 6 purple-brow lines below the suture. The

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

shows longitudinal rounded ribs parted by wider concave intervals, and 10 or 11 in number 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 ...

. The last rib is much larger and forms the lip-varix. About 30 spiral threads, on the body whorl, cross the ribs and intervals, sometimes with minor threads between them. The spaces between these threads are evenly granulose by the decussation of growth lines and spiral striae, there being about four spiral series of granides in each interval. The shell contains 7½ whorls. The 2½ whorls in the

protoconch A protoconch (meaning first or earliest or original shell) is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also called ...

are smooth and rounded, the rest subangular in the middle. The body whorl is shouldered above, the shoulder rounded. The

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 ...

is narrow. The outer lip is nearly straight, with about 8 white teeth within. The columella is white, with four or five small entering folds, increased to 8 or 10 at the margin, and with several on the parietal wall.Pilsbry, Henry A., Sc.D. N''ew Japanese Marine Mollusca: Gastropoda (Plates I-VI);'' Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia v. 56 (1904)
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Distribution

This marine species occurs 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 ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

References

External links

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1-1295.
*
MNHN, Paris: ''Eucithara hirasei''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10278035 hirasei Gastropods described in 1904