''Lunella smaragda'',
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
the cat's eye snail, 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 Turbinidae, the turban snails.
There has been little published on this species.
Description
This species has a green
operculum. The size of the shell varies between 35 mm and 70 mm.
The depressed, imperforate, solid shell has a heliciform shape. It is covered with a strong blackish cuticle, beneath which it is green. It is usually eroded at the
apex and contains 4 to 5
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 upper ones are spirally sulcate or carinate. The
body whorl
The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk.
In gastropods
In gastropods, the b ...
is large, flattened above, with incremental wrinkles and subobsolete spiral sulci. The large
aperture is oblique, rounded, pearly white within. The outer
lip is thin and black-edged. The arched
columella has a pearly callus. The white umbilico-parietal area is excavated and concave.
The common name "cat's eye" for the synonym ''Turbo smaragdus'' is a reference to the attractively colored
operculum of this species, which looks somewhat like an eye, and which is sometimes used for decorative purposes. The operculum is flat inside with four whorls. The nucleus is more than one-third the distance across the face. The outside is deep green except on the side of increment which is white. It is very minutely remotely granose.
Distribution
''Lunella smaragda'' is an
endemic species found both at the
intertidal and low subtidal rocky shores and soft substrates (including
seaweed
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
s) of
New Zealand.
[Glen Pownall, ''New Zealand Shells and Shellfish'', Seven Seas Publishing Pty Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand 1979 ] It is found around the
North,
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, and
Stewart islands, on rocks between low and mid
tide.
References
* Powell, A.W.B. (1979). New Zealand mollusca. Marine, land and freshwater shells. Collins Auckland.
* Alf A. & Kreipl K. (2003). ''A Conchological Iconography: The Family Turbinidae, Subfamily Turbininae, Genus Turbo''. Conchbooks, Hackenheim Germany.
* Spencer, H.G.; Marshall, B.A.; Maxwell, P.A.; Grant-Mackie, J.A.; Stilwell, J.D.; Willan, R.C.; Campbell, H.J.; Crampton, J.S.; Henderson, R.A.; Bradshaw, M.A.; Waterhouse, J.B.; Pojeta, J. Jr (2009). ''Phylum Mollusca: chitons, clams, tusk shells, snails, squids, and kin'', in: Gordon, D.P. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: 1. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. pp. 161–254.
External links
The Taiwan malacofauna database : Lunella smaragdusNABIS : Annual Distribution of the cat's eyeimage of aperture and operculum of a living specimen and more informationImage from collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa*
image:Turbo smaragdus (juvenile).JPG, 15 mm juvenile shell of ''L. smaragda'', markedly different in sculpture than the adult form
image:Turbo smaragdus (juvenile, underside).JPG, 15 mm juvenile shell of ''L. smaragda'', underside
{{Taxonbar, from=Q60452488
smaragda
Gastropods of New Zealand
Gastropods described in 1791
Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin
Endemic molluscs of New Zealand
Endemic fauna of New Zealand