''Cordieria rouaultii'' 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 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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Borsoniidae Borsoniidae is a monophyletic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea.Bouchet, P. (2011). Borsoniidae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.o ...

.WoRMS (2015). Cordieria rouaultii. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=433399 on 2016-03-03

Description

The size of the shell attains 14 mm, its width 5 mm. (Original description) The shell is yellowish white with a pink vertex and the interspaces between the ribs of a pink brown, generally rather pale. The shell contains seven or eight

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, two of which belong to the nucleus. The nucleus is glassy polished, smooth, swollen, rounded, its second whorl with an obsolete peripheral keel . The remainder of the shell has a rather strong

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. The spiral sculpture consists of three or four strong and a few much finer ridges between the sutures and in front of the anal fasciole. On the

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

these continue over the base and

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 anal fasciole shows only traces of the finer spiral threads. The transverse sculpture consists of nine stout short waves, or rounded ribs, with narrower interspaces, beginning in front of the fasciole and becoming obsolete in front of the whorl toward the canal. It also shows rather coarse, strong, and somewhat irregular incremental lines. And where the fasciole borders on the suture, the arched incremental lines are crowded into a series of not very regular plications, which form a band or series in front of the suture. The fasciole is slightly excavated. The surface of the shell carries a yellowish opaque thin epidermis. The whorls are moderately rounded. The base of the shell is subconical. The siphonal ; canal is short, rather large, slightly recurved and flaring at the tip. The anal sinus is rounded and rather shallow. The outer lip is convexly arched, sharp-edged, with or without a rib behind it, according to the stage of growth, with no varix. The

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 opt ...

is narrow, long lirate in the throat. The columella is straight, near its junction with the body having two strong plaits, which continue internally to the apex of the shell. The inner lip has a coat of callus, somewhat reflected anteriorly in the adult.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; p. 98
/ref> This shell, owing to the coarseness of its sculpture, has a somewhat rude appearance, and is very characteristic.

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

and off

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordieria Rouaultii rouaultii Gastropods described in 1889