''Nassarius albescens'', common name : the whitish nassa, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Nassariidae The Nassariidae, Nassa mud snails (USA), or dog whelks (UK), are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda. "Dog whelk" also refers to ''Nucella lapillus''. Shell description T ...

, the Nassa mud snails or dog whelks. The subspecies : ''Nassarius albescens gemmuliferus'' (A. Adams, 1852) is a synonym of ''Nassarius gemmuliferus'' (A. Adams, 1852) )WoRMS : Nassarius albescens gemmuliferus (A. Adams, 1852) ; accessed : 28 February 2011
/ref> (synonyms : ''Nassa (Niotha) albescens'' var. ''fenestratus'' (Marrat, 1877); ''Nassa (Niotha) fenestrata'' (Marrat, 1877); ''Nassa fenestrata'' Marratt, 1877; ''Nassa gemmulifera'' A. Adams, 1852; ''Nassa isabellei'' Reeve, 1853; ''Nassarius (Niotha) albescens gemmuliferus'' (A. Adams, 1852); ''Nassarius (Niotha) fenestratus'' (Marrat, 1877); ''Nassarius (Niotha) fenestratus'' var. ''gestroi'' Bisacchi, 1930; ''Nassarius fenestratus'' (Marratt, 1877);

Description

The length of the shell varies between 9 mm and 25 mm. Its surface

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

has a distinctive fine network of evenly spaced nodules. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

is narrow or wide. The overall colour of the shell is creamy white while the

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

is brown.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Indian Ocean off

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and in the Pacific Ocean off the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

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 ...

References

* Hombron, J.B. & Jacquinot, C.H. (1842-1854). Atlas d'histoire Naturelle zoologie par MM. Hombron et Jacquinot, chirurgiens de l'expédition. Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée éxecuté par ordre du roi pendant les années 1837–1838–1839–1840 sous le commandement de M. Dumont-d'Urville, capitaine de vaisseau, publié sous les auspices du département de la marine et sous la direction supérieure de M. Jacquinot, capitaine de vaisseau, commandant de la Zélée. Zoologie. Gide & Cie, Paris. * Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). ''Mollusques testacés marins de Madagascar''. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III * Cernohorsky W. O. (1984). ''Systematics of the family Nassariidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda).'' Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum 14: 1–356 * Wells, F. E. (1994). The invertebrate community of subtidal sand habitats at Cape d' Aguilar, Hong Kong, with an emphasis on molluscs. In: Proceedings of the Third International workshop on the malacofauna of Hong Kong and Southern China (Eds. Motrton, B.). The malacofauna of Hong Kong and southern China III, pp467-477. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong. * Branch, G.M. et al. (2002). ''Two Oceans''. 5th impression. David Philip, Cate Town & Johannesburg * Liu, J.Y. uiyu(ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.

External links

Adams, A. (1852-1853). Catalogue of the species of Nassa, a genus of gasteropodous Mollusca belonging to the family Buccinidae, in the collection of Hugh Cuming, Esq., with the description of some new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. (1851) 19: 94-112
* {{Commons category Nassariidae Gastropods described in 1846