''Ecrobia ventrosa'', common name spire snail, is a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

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 ...

of small brackish water

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

with a

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

and an operculum, an aquatic

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 Hydrobiidae.

Distribution

This species occurs on the coasts of: * Iceland * Norway *

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

* France * Baltic Sea * Black Sea * White Sea Горбушин А. М. О видовом составе моллюсков рода Hydrobia (Gastropoda, Prosobranchia) в Белом море //Зоол. журн. – 1993. – Т. 71. – №. 9. – С. 47–56. The distribution type is coastal Mediterranean–Atlantic.

Description

For terms see

gastropod shell The gastropod shell is part of the body of a Gastropoda, gastropod or snail, a kind of mollusc. The shell is an exoskeleton, which protects from predators, mechanical damage, and dehydration, but also serves for muscle attachment and calcium s ...

The 3–4 x 1.5–2 mm. shell has 5–7 convex whorls which are slightly more convex than those of ''

Hydrobia acuta neglecta '' Hydrobia acuta neglecta'' is a European subspecies of small brackish water snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Hydrobiidae. Distribution This species which has a distribution type: oceanic temp ...

''. Smaller shells with 5 whorls are slightly less slender than those of Hydrobia neglecta. The suture is deep. The aperture is rounded upside (or only slightly pointed) and attached to the last whorl. The lip is weakly developed. The shell is very finely striated and in colour translucent, glossy yellow-brown, usually hidden by a matt deposit. Certain identification requires dissection. The penis has a pointed tip, not a blunt tip as in ''Hydrobia acuta neglecta''.

References

* de Kluijver, M.J.; Ingalsuo, S.S.; de Bruyne, R.H. (2000). ''Macrobenthos of the North Sea'' D-ROM 1. Keys to Mollusca and Brachiopoda. World Biodiversity Database CD-ROM Series. Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification (ETI): Amsterdam, The Netherlands. . 1 cd-rom pp * Rolán E., 2005. ''Malacological Fauna From The Cape Verde Archipelago. Part 1, Polyplacophora and Gastropoda''.

External links

''Hydrobia ventrosa''
at AnimalBase *
Oliverio, Marco (2006). ''Gastropoda Prosobranchia Caenogastropoda'', in: Revisione della Checklist della fauna marina Italiana
Ecrobia Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Fauna of the Arctic Ocean Fauna of the Baltic Sea Fauna of the North Sea Gastropods described in 1803 Taxa named by George Montagu (naturalist) {{Hydrobiidae-stub