''Cernina fluctuata'', common name the wavy moon snail, is a species of marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

in the family Ampullinidae. It is the only living member of its family.

Description

The shells of this species range in size from 25 to 80 mm. This species resembles the moon snails of the family

Naticidae Naticidae, common name moon snails or necklace shells, is a family (biology), family of medium to large-sized predatory sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha. The shells of the species in this family a ...

, though it is not related. One way to differentiate this shell from that of true moon snails is by its lack of an umbilical callus. The color pattern is one of wavy or zigzag stipes crossing the width of the shell.

Distribution

This species is native to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and northern

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

Diet

''Cernina fluctuata'' is an herbivore that grazes on algae. This is in contrast to true moon snails, which are predators.

References

*Bruno Caze, Didier Merle, Mathieu Le Meur, Jean-Michel Pacaud, Daniel Ledon and Jean-Paul Saint Martin. (2011) "Taxonomic implications of the residual colour patterns of ampullinid gastropods and their contribution to the discrimination from naticids." ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'' 56 (2): 329–347. doi: 10.4202/app.2009.0084 Ampullinidae {{Caenogastropoda-stub