Margarella violacea
Species of gastropod
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margarella violacea is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calliostomatidae, the top snails.[1]
| Margarella violacea | |
|---|---|
| |
| Six live-collected shells of Margarella violacea with each operculum held in place with glue and cotton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Vetigastropoda |
| Order: | Trochida |
| Family: | Calliostomatidae |
| Genus: | Margarella |
| Species: | M. violacea |
| Binomial name | |
| Margarella violacea (King & Broderip, 1832) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Description
The animal is pale beige in color and has a pair of cephalic tentacles.[1] The eyes are large and black.[1] The shell is small and wider than it is high.[1] The size of an adult shell varies between 7 mm and 13.5 mm, but can be up to 8.4 mm in height and 9.9 mm in diameter.[1] The purplish-pink shell is imperforate, orbicular-conical, thin and smooth, and is covered in fine pink or dark pink spiral lines.[1] There are four swollen whorls. The suture is scarcely impressed. The rounded-quadrangular aperture is angular above, and subangular at the base of slightly thickened and arcuate columella. The umbilico-columellar tract is excavated.[1]
Distribution
This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Argentina and the Falkland Islands, i.e. in the Magellanic Region.
