''Gibbula albida'', common name the whitish gibbula, 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 ...

of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family

Trochidae The Trochidae, common name top-snails or top-shells, are a family of various sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subclass Vetigastropoda. This family is commonly known as the top-snails because in many species the shell resemb ...

, the top snails.Gofas, S. (2013). Gibbula albida (Gmelin, 1791). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=141779 on 2014-01-22

Description

The size of the shell varies between 10 mm and 24 mm. The solid, umbilicate or imperforate shell has a conical shape. it is whitish, painted with longitudinal stripes of red, brown or purple, the base striped, maculated or mottled. The acute

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 a ...

contains 7

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. These are tumid below the sutures and sometimes obsoletely plicate there and spirally lirate. The body whorl is tumid at the periphery and convex beneath. 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 ...

is slightly sinuous and prominent in the middle. The white umbilicus is funnel-shaped when open, frequently closed.Tryon (1889), Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
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Distribution

This species occurs in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

, the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

and the Sea of Azov

References

* Dillwyn L. W., 1817: ''A descriptive catalogue of Recent shells, arranged according to the Linnean method''; London, Vol. 1: pp. 580 + 5 pl. . Vol. 2: pp. 581–1092 + 29 pl. * Cantraine F. J., 1835: ''Diagnoses ou descriptions succinctes de quelques espèces nouvelles de mollusques'' ; Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles-lettres de Bruxelles 2 (11): 380-411 * Deshayes G. P., 1835: ''Mollusques''. pp. 81–203, pl. 18-26, in Bory de Saint-Vincent J.B.G.M. (ed.), Expédition scientifique de Morée. Section des Sciences Physiques. Tome III. 1ere Partie. Zoologie. Première Section. Animaux vertébrés, Mollusques et Polypiers. Levrault, Paris, 81-203 pl. 18-26 * Philippi R. A., 1836: ''Enumeratio molluscorum Siciliae cum viventium tum in tellure tertiaria fossilium, quae in itinere suo observavit. Vol. 1'' ; Schropp, Berlin erolinixiv + 267 p., pl. 1-12 * Forbes E., 1844: ''Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean sea, and on their distribution, considered as bearing on geology''; Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1843): 130-193 * Nardo D., 1847: ''Sinonimia moderna delle specie registrate nell’opera intitolata: Descrizione de’Crostacei, de’Testacei e de’Pesci che abitano le Lagune e Golfo Veneto, rappresentati in figure, a chiaroscuro ed a colori dall’ Abate Stefano Chiereghini Ven. Clodiense applicata per commissione governativa''; Venezia pp. i-xi, 1-127 * Coen G., 1930: ''Gibbula (Forskaliopsis nov. sect.) Bellinii n. sp. nuovo gasteropodo marino di Capri'' ; Annuario del Museo Zoologico della Reale Università di Napoli (n. ser.) 6(4): 2 * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification.'' Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213 {{Taxonbar, from=Q3072500 albida Gastropods described in 1790 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin