''Phrontis vibex'',

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 bruised 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 ...

mollusk 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 e ...

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.Marshall, B. (2016). Phrontis vibex (Say, 1822). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=877061 on 2016-05-20

Description

The length of the shell varies from 10 mm to 20 mm. The shell is ovate and conical. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

is composed of six or seven indistinct

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, subconvex, plaited throughout their whole length, crossed by fine and very close transverse striae. Those of the base are more prominent. The longitudinal folds disappear insensibly upon the right side of 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 ...

, at the upper part of which we find merely nodosities. The whitish

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 rounded. The cavity has a brown color, and is marked by transverse bands. The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is bordered externally, and ornamented internally, with small, fine striae. 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 arcuated and is covered with a fairly wide callosity, brown at its upper part, and white towards the base, which is adorned with small guttules. The coloring of the shell is olive, with a white or yellowish band. Upon the top of the body whorl, the folds and the tubercles are sometimes whitish.Kiener (1840). General species and iconography of recent shells : comprising the Massena Museum, the collection of Lamarck, the collection of the Museum of Natural History, and the recent discoveries of travellers; Boston :W.D. Ticknor,1837
(described as ''Buccinum polygonatum'')

Distribution

The distribution of ''Nassarius vibex'' is from 41.6°N to 27°S; 97.38°W to 34.9°W, the northwest Atlantic,

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

, and southwest Atlantic. This marine species occurs off the following countries: * USA: Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida: East Florida, West Florida; Louisiana, Texas * Mexico: Tabasco, Veracruz, Campeche State, Yucatán State, Quintana Roo * Nicaragua * Lesser Antilles * Costa Rica * Cuba * Panama * Colombia * Venezuela: Gulf of Venezuela * Jamaica * Virgin Islands: St. Croix * Brazil: Para, Maranhao, Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Parana and Santa Catarina.

References

This article incorprotates CC-BY-SA-3.0 text from the reference * Cernohorsky W. O. (1984). ''Systematics of the family Nassariidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda).'' Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum 14: 1–356. * Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. ''Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico'', Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.

External links

* Yokoyama L. Q. & Amaral A. C. Z. (2011). "Temporal variation in egg-capsule deposition by ''Nassarius vibex'' (Gastropoda: Nassariidae) Invertebrate Reproduction & Development". ''

Invertebrate Reproduction and Development Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordata, ...

'' 55(2): 82–90. .
Pollock, L.W. (1998). ''A practical guide to the marine animals of northeastern North America.'' Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, New Jersey & London. 367 pp
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phrontis Vibex Nassariidae Gastropods described in 1822