''Eualetes tulipa'' 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 ...

Vermetidae The Vermetidae, the worm snails or worm shells, are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the clade Littorinimorpha. The shells of species in the family Vermetidae are extremely irregular, and do n ...

, the worm snails or worm shells.

Description

''E. tulipa'' is a marine gastropod species of the family

, commonly known as "worm snails" due to the tube shape of their shells. Vermetids are sessile and are either attached or buried on hard substrates. Once the juvenile attaches to the substrate, the adult shell grows by coiling itself at a right angle to the nuclear whorls of the juvenile shell. This produces a large morphological plasticity in the adults

Distribution

There are reports of this species at several localities in Panama Bay, including the boulder reef at Vera Cruz,

Veraguas Province Veraguas () is a province of Panama, located in the centre-west of the country. The capital is the city of Santiago de Veraguas. It is the only Panamanian province to border both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It covers an area of 10,587.6&n ...

, both in the east Pacific Ocean. In Hawaii, ''E. tulipa'' has been reported as a non-indigenous, introduced species in 32 localities, including Kane‘ohe Bay, Hilo Harbour, O’ahu Waikiki and O’ahu

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, since at least 1997. In these Hawaiian localities, individuals are mainly found attached to artificial substrates such as concrete pilings and walls, metal and wood substrates but also in natural environments such as reefs and mangrove roots. In the Venezuelan Caribbean, this species (reported as '' Vermetus'' sp.) has been observed since at least 1986 in the central west coast near

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the count ...

colonizing the walls of the intake-cooling sea water channel of a thermoelectric power plant. This species has also been observed at other two localities within the area colonizing other artificial substrates: the first is on the concrete pilings at the deck of El Palito oil refinery, and the other is on the metal remains of a ship wreck.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5405255 Vermetidae Gastropods described in 1843 Taxa named by Jean-Charles Chenu