''Mangelia tritaeniata'' 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 Mangeliidae.Melvill J.C., 1917. A revision of the Turridae (Pleurotomidae) occurring in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and north Arabian Sea as evidenced mostly through the results of dredgings carried out by Mr F. W. Townsend, 1893~1914. Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond. 12: 140-201, pls. 8-10

Description

The length of the shell attains 8 mm, its diameter 2.5 mm. The small shell has a fusiform shape. It contains 8

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, of which two or three vitreous and globular whorls in 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 ...

. The subsequent ventricose whorls are considerably impressed at the suture. They are longitudinally crossed by many, not very sharp ribs (about 15 on the body whorl) and intersected by thin, spiral lirae. The narrow aperture is oblong. The outer lip is thin. The columella is simple and oblique. The sinus is obscure. 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 ...

is wide and produced. The shell shows three characteristic red bands on the body whorl.

Distribution

This marine species occurs off Mumbai, Western India.

References

External links

Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682:1-1295.
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q48997547 tritaeniata Gastropods described in 1917