''Fusiturris torta'' 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

Fusiturridae Fusiturridae is a family of small to medium-sized sea snails, 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 ...

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between . (Translation of the original French description) The slightly shiny shell is solid and has an elongated fusiform shape. The turreted spire is composed of 9 very convex

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, subcarinated on their extremes. They are separated by a very marked oblique suture, covered with sigmoid growth lines, fine decurrent striae and large, wide and nodular oblique longitudinal folds, numbering 6 on each of the last two whorls. 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 ...

measures half of the total height of the shell. It finishes in a long, narrow and slightly twisted

siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is ...

. The elongated aperture is angular at the top. The columella is sinuated at the top, then a little oblique. The simple outer lip is sharp. The color of the aperture is a dirty, uniform white, but is slightly tinged with red on the end of the siphonal canal. The ground color of the shell is a white uniform ivory. Dautzenberg, Ph. - Mission Gruvel sur la còte occidentale d'Afrique; Paris :Masson et cie 1912
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean between Gabon and Angola.

References

* Dautzenberg, P., 1912. Mission GRUVEL sur la côte occidentale d'Afrique (1909-1910), Mollusques marins. Annales de l'Institut Océanographique "1913"5(3): 111 p, 3 pls

Bibliography

* Bernard, P.A. (Ed.) (1984). ''Coquillages du Gabon hells of Gabon'' Pierre A. Bernard: Libreville, Gabon. 140, 75 plates pp.

External links

*
Holotype at MNHN, Paris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fusiturris Torta torta Gastropods described in 1912