''Solariella iris'' 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 Solariellidae
Solariellidae is a family of small sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Gofas, S. (2011). Solariellidae. Accessed through: World Register of ...
.
Distribution
This species occurs in the Gulf of Mexico off the
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
at depths between 218 m and 402 m.
Description
The maximum recorded
shell height is 5 mm, its diameter 5.5 mm.
[Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. .]
(Original description by
W.H. Dall
William Healey Dall (August 21, 1845 – March 27, 1927) was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska. He described many mollusks of the Pacific Northwest of America, and w ...
) The thin shell is brilliantly nacreous. it is inflated and has a depressed-conical shape with five
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. The
spire is obtuse. The nucleus is polished, smooth, and very minute. The remainder of the shell is sculptured with fine revolving lines, subequal, about as wide as the interspaces, about eighteen at the beginning 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 ...
. These are crossed by slight plications, beginning near the
suture, becoming nodulous on a single prominent thread a little way from the suture (which is thus made to appear somewhat channelled), becoming faint about the middle of the upper side of the whorl, and entirely disappearing before reaching the periphery. The revolving lines are fainter on the rounded base. The
umbilicus is wide and funnel-shaped, bordered by a strong keel with about twenty-five rounded nodules. The inner walls of the umbilicus show strong revolving lines delicately reticulated by the lines of growth. The whorls are rounded, with no carina at the periphery. The thin
columella is arched, not reflected. The
aperture is nearly round, but angulated above by the sutural thread, and below by the umbilical keel. The edges are simple, not thickened. The thin
operculum is corneous and multispiral. The shell is nacreous, with delicate suffused splashes of brown.
Dall, W. H. 1881. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Caribbean Sea, 1877–79, by the United States Coast Survey Steamer 'Blake,'. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 9: 33–144
(described as ''Margarita iris'')
Habitat
Minimum recorded depth is 218 m.
References
* 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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solariella Iris
iris