''Mitrella moleculina'' 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 Columbellidae
The Columbellidae, the dove snails or dove shells, are a family of minute to small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the order Neogastropoda.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2010). Columbellidae. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) Wo ...
, the dove snails.
This species occurs in the Indian Ocean off
Aldabra
Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 k ...
and
Madagascar and in the seas off the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. The shell ranges between 6 and 9 millimeters in length.
Mitrella moleculina are broadcast spawners, releasing their gametes (sperm and eggs) into open water for external fertilisation.
Distribution
Pacific Ocean:
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Description
This species attains a size of 8 mm.
References
* Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). ''Mollusques testaces marins de Madagascar''. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
* Liu, J.Y.
uiyu(ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.
* Kilburn R.N. & Marais J.P. (2010) Columbellidae. Pp. 60–104, in: Marais A.P. & Seccombe A.D. (eds), Identification guide to the seashells of South Africa. Volume 1. Groenkloof: Centre for Molluscan Studies. 376 pp.
External links
Duclos P.L. (1840). Histoire naturelle générale et particulière de tous les genres de coquilles univalves marines a l'état vivant et fossile, publiée par monographie. Genre Colombelle. Didot, Paris. 13 plBrazier, J. (1877) Shells collected during the Chevert Expedition. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 1, 224–240
moleculina
Gastropods described in 1846
{{Columbellidae-stub