''Oenopota aleutica'' 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 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 ...

Mangeliidae Mangeliidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized, predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. Bouchet, P. (2011). Mangeliidae P. Fischer, 1883. In: MolluscaBase (2016). Accessed through: World Regis ...

.W.H. Dall, Descriptions of sixty new forms of mollusks from the West Coast of North America and the North Pacific Ocean, with notes on others already described; American Journal of Concholohy vol. 7, 1871

Description

The shell is elongated and acuminated. Its color varies from pure white to dark red brown. It contains seven

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, carinated above, though not very strongly. 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 narrow, long, two fifths the length of the shell. The outer lip is sharp, thin, strongly flexuous, produced below. The sinus is close to but not on the suture, not very deep or prominent. 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 one-third as long as the aperture, straight, narrow. The columella is smooth, almost straight, without callus. 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 ...

is smooth white, pointed, drawn out. The

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 ...

consists of longitudinal ribs thirteen or fourteen on 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 ...

, obsolete on the lower third of the whorl and not extending to the suture, below which is a smooth band only marked by oblique lines of growth. The ribs are slightly nodulous at their posterior terminations (where they are united by a slight carina) strong on the upper whorls, slightly flexuous on the convexity of the whorl. The whorl below the carina is marked by very faint grooves close together and passing over the ribs, stronger at the anterior end of the body whorl.

Distribution

This species occurs off

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, from

Cape Sabine Cape Sabine is a land point on Pim Island, off the eastern shores of the Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, in the Smith Sound, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. History The cape was named after Arctic explorer Sir Edward Sabine (1788– ...

to the Fuca Strait.

References

External links

* *
W.H. Dall, Supplementary notes on some species of mollusks of the Bering Sea and vicinity; Proceedings of the United States National Museum.v. 9, 1886
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oenopota Aleutica aleutica Gastropods described in 1871