''Polystira albida'', common name white giant turris, 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 ...

Turridae Turridae is a taxonomic family name for a number of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. MolluscaBase (2018). Turridae H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853 (1838). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Specie ...

, the turrids.

Distribution

''P. albida'' can be found in Western Atlantic waters, ranging from the eastern coast of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

south to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca – The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
/ref>Discover Life
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Description

Shells of ''Polystira albida'' can reach a size of . These large shells are slender, fusiform, with a narrow and long aperture and a white external surface.

Habitat

These tropical benthic gastropods live at depths of 15 to 229 m.
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Life cycle

Embryos develop into free-swimming planktonic marine larvae (

trocophore A trochophore (; also spelled trocophore) is a type of free-swimming planktonic marine larva with several bands of cilia. By moving their cilia rapidly, they make a water eddy, to control their movement, and to bring their food closer, to captu ...

) and later into juvenile veligers.

Bibliography

* John Tucker – Catalog of Recent & Fossil Turrids * Lamarck, J. B. 1816. Tableau Encyclopédique et Méthodique des Trois Règnes de la Nature – Veuve Agasse: Paris. * Norman A. Meinkoth – Audubon – Field Guide to North American Shells * Perry, G. 1811. – Conchology – William Miller: London. * Petuch, E. J. 1987. New Caribbean molluscan faunas – Coastal Education & Research Foundation: Charlottesville, Virginia. * Reeve, L. 1843. Monograph of the genus Pleurotoma Conchologia Iconica * Todd J.A. & Rawlings T.A. (2014). A review of the Polystira clade — the Neotropic's largest marine gastropod radiation (Neogastropoda: Conoidea: Turridae sensu stricto). Zootaxa. 3884(5): 445–491., * Turgeon, D. D., J. F. Quinn Jr., A. E. Bogan, E. V. Coan, F. G. Hochberg, W. G. Lyons, et al. (1998) – Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks, 2nd ed. – American Fisheries Society Special Publication

References

External links

ITIS

Encyclopedia of life

Animal Base
*
Todd J.A. & Rawlings T.A. (2014). A review of the Polystira clade — the Neotropic's largest marine gastropod radiation (Neogastropoda: Conoidea: Turridae sensu stricto). Zootaxa. 3884(5): 445-491.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polystira Albida albida Gastropods described in 1811