''Tenaturris bartlettii'' 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 Mangeliidae.

Description

The length of the shell varies between 7 mm and 13 mm. (Original description) The oval shell has a rather acute spire. 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 ...

is glassy, dark brown and is inflated. It consists of 1½

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, followed by five normal whorls. The color of the shell is pale yellowish, with irregular touches of pale brown especially on the

varix A varix (pl. varices) is an abnormally dilated vessel with a tortuous course. Varices usually occur in the venous system, but may also occur in arterial or lymphatic vessels. Examples of varices include: * Varicose veins, large tortuous veins usua ...

. The spiral sculpture consists of numerous fine subequal rounded little-raised threads, with wider interspaces, covering the whole shell and stronger on the

siphonal canal The siphonal canal is an anatomical feature of the shells of certain groups of sea snails within the clade Neogastropoda. Some sea marine gastropods have a soft tubular anterior extension of the mantle called a siphon through which water is ...

. The transverse sculpture consists of extremely fine close parallel hardly raised incremental lines, visible only with the glass, and traversing the spiral interspaces with great regularity and perfect uniformity. It also shows on the antepenultimate whorl about twenty narrow, little raised, long rounded riblets, starting from the suture and fading away on the base. The spirals run smoothly over the ribs. The fasciole is only visible in the curve of the incremental lines. The notch is narrow, rounded and not deep. The outer lip is reinforced in the adult by a rather thick rounded varix from which the thin sharp edge of the lip stands out prominently, arched forward in the middle, and is not contracted for the siphonal canal. The inner lip is simple. The columella is obliquely trimmed off in front, but is otherwise straight. The siphonal canal is short, wide and not differentiated from the aperture.Dall W. H. 1889. Reports on the results of dredging, under the supervision of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico (1877–78) and in the Caribbean Sea (1879–80), by the U.S. Coast Survey Steamer "Blake", Lieut.-Commander C.D. Sigsbee, U.S.N., and Commander J.R. Bartlett, U.S.N., commanding. XXIX. Report on the Mollusca. Part 2, Gastropoda and Scaphopoda. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College 18: 1–492, pls. 10–40

Distribution

This species occurs in the Caribbean Sea off

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Belize, the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

and Cuba, also off

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

, Florida, USA.

References

External links

*
Worldwide Mollusc Species Data Base: Mangeliidae
*
De Jong K.M. & Coomans H.E. (1988) Marine gastropods from Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 261 pp.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenaturris Bartlettii bartlettii Gastropods described in 1889