''Clanculus pharaonius'',

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 contra ...

the strawberry topshell, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

of sea snail, a marine gastropod

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 es ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Trochidae The Trochidae, common name top-snails or top-shells, are a family of various sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subclass Vetigastropoda. This family is commonly known as the top-snails because in many species the shell resembles ...

, the top snails. It is the type species of this genus.

Description

The size of the shell varies between 13 mm and 25 mm. The very strong and solid shell has a depressed conoidal shape with a rounded periphery and a profoundly umbilicate axis. It is densely granulate. The overall coloration of the

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 flo ...

s and the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

is dark strawberry red or coral red. The spire is conoidal with scarcely convex outlines. The about 6 whorls are somewhat convex and separated by well impressed sutures. The body whorl is large and deflected anteriorly. It bears 18 or 19 crowded, closely granose cinguli, of which the 1st, 3d, 5th, 7th, 9th and two upon the base are composed of alternate black and white granules. Upon the baseof the shell the granulation is finer. The base is convex, a trifle indented toward the center. The oblique

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An ...

is subtetragonal. The

peristome Peristome (from the Greek ''peri'', meaning 'around' or 'about', and ''stoma'', 'mouth') is an anatomical feature that surrounds an opening to an organ or structure. Some plants, fungi, and shelled gastropods have peristomes. In mosses In mosses, ...

has a marginal row of black and white dots. The outer lip is plicate within, with a short plicifbrm tubercle above. The basal lip, the outer margin of the umbilicus and the parietal wall are provided with wrinkle-like plicae. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the ...

is very oblique, terminating below in a square prominence, contorted above, and inserted on the side of the umbilicus. The umbilicus is white, and smooth within the strongly radiately plicate marginal rib, smooth.H. Pilsbry, Manual of Conchology XI, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
/ref> Clanculus pharaonius 002

Distribution

Widely occurring in the shallow

subtidal zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

throughout the tropics of the Indo-Pacific region, from Hawaiian Islands to the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

, the

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ar, خليج عمان ''khalīj ʿumān''; fa, دریای عمان ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ar, خلیج مکران ''khalīj makrān''; fa, دریای مکرا� ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

References

* Dautzenberg, Ph. (1923). ''Liste préliminaire des mollusques marins de Madagascar et description de deux espèces nouvelles''. J. conchyliol. 68: 21–74 * Bosch, D. & Bosch, E. (1982). ''Seashells of Oman'' . England : Longman Group Ltd. pp. 1–206 * Sharabati, D. (1984). ''Red Sea Shells''. London : KPI Limited. pp. 4–128

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clanculus Pharaonius pharaonius Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus