''Oenopota blaneyi'' 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 ...

Description

The length of the shell varies between 5.5 mm and 7 mm, its diameter 3–3.5 mm. (Original description) This marine species is closely related to '' Curtitoma incisula'' (Verrill, 1882), but differs in having more elongated

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 and therefore appear more slender. 'I'he ribs are very little raised and are indicated rather by the deepened interspaces than by being raised above the general surface level along the shoulder which is roundly angulated. On some portions of the whorls these ribs blend entirely with the sinuous lines of growth. The smaller specimen of four whorls is destitute of spiral lines, either raised or incised, but the larger one of five whorls has about fifteen very faint incised spiral lines 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 ...

commencing well below the shoulder and are so shallow as to scarcely interrupt the otherwise smooth surface. There are also occasional faint indications of one or two spirals just above the suture on the preceding whorl. The one 1½ whorls of 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 ...

are well rounded and apparently smooth (this may be due to erosion) and regularly coiled. The epidermal layer has a delicate yellow tint.K.H. Bush, A new Bela from Frenchman's Bay, Maine; The Nautilus XXIII, 1910

Distribution

This marine species occurs off

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, USA.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1030964 blaneyi Gastropods described in 1909