''Hydrobia acuta'' 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 very small (4-6mm.)

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

with a

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod

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

Hydrobiidae Hydrobiidae, commonly known as mud snails, is a large cosmopolitan family of very small freshwater and brackish water snails with an operculum; they are in the order Littorinimorpha. Distribution Hydrobiidae are found in much of the world, ...

Description

Draparnaud's

description Description is the pattern of narrative development that aims to make vivid a place, object, character, or group. Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narra ...

reads "Coquille ovale-oblongue, un peu conique, aiguë à son sommet,transparente, lisse, quoique marquée de légères stries lorsqu'on l'observe à la loupe. Dans son naturel elle une couleur verdàtre.La spire a six à sept tours. L'ouverture est ovale et le péristome simple.Fente ombilicale peu prononcée. Opercule mince et lisse. In English "Shell oval-oblong, slightly conical, acute at the top transparent, smooth, albeit marked with light streaks when it is observed under the microscope. In nature it is a greenish colour.The spire has six or seven whorls. The opening is oval and the peristome is simple.Little pronounced umbilical slot.Operculum thin and smooth.

Subspecies

* ''

Hydrobia acuta neglecta '' Hydrobia acuta neglecta'' is a European subspecies of small brackish water snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Hydrobiidae. Distribution This species which has a distribution type: oceanic temp ...

'' Muus, 1963

Distribution

This species occurs on the coasts of 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 ...

and

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, as a rare species in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

References

AnimalBase AnimalBase is a project brought to life in 2004 and is maintained by the University of Göttingen, Germany. The goal of the AnimalBase project is to digitize early zoological literature, provide copyright-free open access to zoological works, and pr ...

info at

External links

Habitas
* Images at

* Images at:

Encyclopedia of Life The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of ...

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Hydrobiidae Hydrobia Gastropods described in 1805 {{Hydrobiidae-stub