''Perrona aculeiformis'' 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

Clavatulidae Clavatulidae is a taxonomic family of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. The family is not well differentiated morphologically. Clavatulidae was raised, based on cladistic analysis, from subfamily to the family ...

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 31 mm and 54 mm. The shell is elongated and the mineralized shell is made of calcium carbonate (Chalk). The

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 of the spire are more or less plicately ribbed, sometimes only the upper ones. 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 ...

is smooth except at the base, where there are revolving grooves. The color of the shell is very light grayish yellow, or yellowish brown, or chestnut. Some specimens are shouldered varieties and were described as ''Pusionella catelini'' (Petit de la Saussaye, 1851) G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
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Distribution

This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa and particularly Gabon.

References

* Bernard, P.A. (Ed.) (1984). Coquillages du Gabon hells of Gabon Pierre A. Bernard: Libreville, Gabon. 140, 75 plates pp.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perrona Aculeiformis aculeiformis Gastropods described in 1816