''Cymatosyrinx arbela'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a 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 ...

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

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Drilliidae The Drilliidae are a taxonomic family of small predatory sea snails with high-spired shells. They are classified as marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Conoidea. This family has no subfamilies. It consists of about 30 genera and approx ...

Description

The length of the shell attains 13.7 mm, its diameter 5 mm. (Original description) The small, glistening shell is acute. Its color is brownish, with the projecting

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 ...

paler. The

protoconch A protoconch (meaning first or earliest or original shell) is an embryonic or larval shell which occurs in some classes of molluscs, e.g., the initial chamber of an ammonite or the larval shell of a gastropod. In older texts it is also called " ...

is dark brown, glassy, rather irregularly coiled and consists of one smooth

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). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagra ...

. It is followed by a peripherally keeled turn and about eight subsequent whorls. The suture is distinct, appressed, with a nodulose band in front of it where the ends of the ribs are cut off by a very narrow fasciolar constriction. The spiral sculpture consists of a few incised lines cutting only the interspaces between the ribs, on 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. Spire ...

. On the

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology (biology), morphology of the gastropod shell, 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 ...

there are six or seven of these lines, with much wider interspaces, followed by three strong cords close-set on the

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 i ...

. The axial sculpture consists of (on the body whorl about 13) protractively oblique whitish narrow ribs extending from the fasciole to the cords of the siphonal canal, with subequal interspaces and not continuous up the spire. The silky incremental lines are evident. The

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is narrow. The

anal sulcus The anal sulcus, also called the anal sinus or anal canal, in Gastropods is a notch, a shelly tube at the top of the Aperture (mollusc), aperture. It is the first notch close to the Suture (anatomy), suture. It houses the anal siphon through which t ...

is deep and rounded, with a strong subsutural callus. The outer

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

is sharp-edged, with a feeble

varix A varix (: varices) is an abnormally dilated blood vessel with a tortuous course. Varices usually occur in the venous system, but may also occur in arterial or lymphatic vessels. Examples of varices include: * Varicose veins, large tortuous veins ...

and a brown spot behind it. The inner lip and the

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

shows a thick coat of white enamel, the throat not lirate. The siphonal canal is constricted, very short, deep, and slightly recurved.Dall (1919) Descriptions of new species of Mollusca from the North Pacific Ocean; Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, vol. 56 (1920)
(described as ''Elaeocyma arbela'')

Distribution

This species occurs in the

demersal zone The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer o ...

of tropical

Eastern Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

; the holotype was found off

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

References

* Tucker, J.K. 2004 ''Catalog of recent and fossil turrids (Mollusca: Gastropoda)''. Zootaxa 682: 1–1295. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cymatosyrinx Arbela

arbela Arbela may refer to: Places * Greco-Roman name of the city of Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq * Arbel, Israel * Irbid, Jordan * Arbela, Ohio, United States * Arbela Township, Michigan, United States * Arbela, Missouri, United States Other uses ...

Gastropods described in 1919