''Tectus dentatus'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

the toothed top shell, 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 ...

, 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

Tegulidae Tegulidae is a family of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Trochoidea (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005).Bouchet, P. (2013). Tegulidae Kuroda, Habe & Oyama, 1971. Access ...

Description

''Tectus dentatus'' has a shell that reaches a size of 40 – 150 mm. The large, imperforate shell is conical-turreted shape, solid and heavy, The surface shows strong rounded protuberances and it is whitish or pale brown, while the base has a blue-green color with pearly sheen. It contains about 12

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. These are planulate, more or less obviously finely radiately wrinkled. They often show a few spiral rows of beads, finely, very obliquely striate, but all this surface sculpture is often obsolescent. The periphery of the whorls and at the sutures is armed with distant strong radiating solid knobs, about six to ten 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 ...

. The base of the shell is flat, smooth, partly polished, with an appearance of obsolete concentric lirae about. the central portion, white, or with a zone of blue or of green or both colors surrounding the axial tract. The aperture is transverse, rather wide, rhomboidal. The basal margin is regularly curved, 6 to 8 plicate within near the columellar termination. The columella is very short, the fold stout, heavy, directed downward. The shell of the living sea snail is often covered with mud or colonized by algae. The meat of this sea snail is appreciated as food and the shell is valued of commercial importance in manufacture of buttons and souvenirs. Tectus dentatus 002

Distribution

''T. dentatus'' is endemic to the Northwest Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.Oliver, A.P.H. (2004). ''Guide to Seashells of the World.'' Buffalo: Firefly Books. 30.

Habitat

This herbivorous species lives on coral reef shore between algae and on dead corals, in the intertidal and shallow subtidal areas at a depth up to 10 m. It feeds on various species of algae and diatoms.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of life

(Tectus) dentatus''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tectus Dentatus

dentatus Dentatus may refer to: * Manius Curius Dentatus (died 270 BC), son of Manius, a three-time consul and a plebeian hero of the Roman Republic * Dimocarpus dentatus, a species of tree related to the Longan ''Dimocarpus longan'', commonly known ...

Molluscs described in 1775