''Leucosyrinx pelagia'' 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

Pseudomelatomidae Pseudomelatomidae is a family of predatory sea snails, marine gastropods included in the superfamily Conoidea (previously Conacea) and part of the Neogastropoda ( Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). In 1995 Kantor elevated the subfamily Pseudomelatomina ...

, the turrids and allies.

Description

The length of the shell attains 11 mm, its diameter 3.5 mm. (Original description) The slender, thin shell is white, smooth but not polished. It contains eight

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. 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 ...

is small, the three apical whorls inflated, white, perfectly smooth. The remainder are indistinctly keeled midway between the sutures by a ridge, over which, the lines of growth pass obliquely. The shell is as it were pinched up at regular intervals into oblique projections, ten to fourteen on each whorl, fewer proportionally on the larger whorls. The shell is otherwise not sculptured. The suture is distinct, not appressed. The

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 ...

and aperture are long and narrow. The notch is well marked, but not forming a distinct band. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College.,IX, 59, 1881
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Distribution

This species occurs off West Florida, USA.

References

G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. ''Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico'', Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leucosyrinx Pelagia

pelagia Pelagia ( grc-gre, Πελαγία), distinguished as Pelagia of Antioch, Pelagia the Penitent, and Pelagia the Harlot, was a Christian saint and hermit in the 4th or 5th century. Her feast day was celebrated on 8 October, originally in common wi ...

Gastropods described in 1881