''Hirtopelta tufari'' 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 Peltospiridae.
Distribution
''Hirtopelta tufari'' lives in hot vent sites in the
East Pacific Rise.
Description
The gill of ''Hirtopelta tufari'' is enlarged and there are bacterial endosymbions in the gill.
Endosymbiotic bacteria provide nutrition to the snail.
References
Peltospiridae
Gastropods described in 2002
{{Peltospiridae-stub