''Litiopa melanostoma'', common name the brown Sargassum shell, is a
species of very small
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 or
micromollusk
A micromollusk is a shelled mollusk which is extremely small, even at full adult size. The word is usually, but not exclusively, applied to marine mollusks, although in addition, numerous species of land snails and freshwater mollusks also ...
in the
family Litiopidae
Litiopidae, common name litiopids, is a family of small sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Sorbeoconcha.
According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi (2005) the family Litiopidae has no subfamilies.
Genera
Ge ...
.
Distribution
This species occurs in the
Gulf of Mexico, the
Caribbean Sea, the
Lesser Antilles,
Puerto Rico and off the
Azores; in the North Atlantic Ocean, off
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
.
Description
''Litiopa melanostoma'' (Sargassum Snail) has been found to have a maximum recorded
shell length of 6 mm.
[Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLOS One'' 5(1): e8776. .]
Habitat
The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0 m; the maximum recorded depth is 805 m.
The snail is known to live on floating beds of Sargassum.
References
* Rang S. (1829). ''Notice sur le Litiope, Litiopa, genre nouveau de Mollusque astéropode''. Annales des Sciences Naturelles 16: 303–307 page(s): 307
External links
*
Litiopidae
Gastropods described in 1829
{{Litiopidae-stub