''Eulima glabra'' (Dutch: ''grote glanshoren'') 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), ...

of small parasitic

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 ...

Eulimidae Eulimidae is a family of very small parasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Vanikoroidea. Description These small parasitic snails live on (or in some cases in) the bodies of echinoderms such as sea cucumbers, se ...

. The species is one of a number within the genus ''

Eulima ''Eulima'' is a genus of small, ectoparasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Eulimidae. ''Eulima'' is the type genus of the family Eulimidae. Description The genus appeared early in the Secondary and became abundant in for ...

''.da Costa, 1778. Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180-213 (look up in IMIS). Accessed through:

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=139805 on 2013-02-02.Petit R.E. (2009) George Brettingham Sowerby, I, II & III: their conchological publications and molluscan taxa. Zootaxa 2189: 1–218.

Description

The length of the shell measures approximately 10 mm. The shell is tall, sharply pointed, slender, very glossy and nearly transparent; whorls flat-sided, sutures nearly invisible; no ornamentation. The aperture is a long and narrow, pointed apically; outer lip nearly straight in side view and forming a shallow, open canal basally. The shell has up to 12

Whorls 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 diagram ...

, 3 or 4 belonging to the protoconch, but these, which are a little tumid, are often broken off. The last whorl is slender and, in apertural view, the outer lip continues the profile of the spire. Its edge is rounded, not sharp. There are a few irregular growth lines on the shell and occasional prosocline and nearly straight markings which show former positions of the outer lip. The last whorl occupies about half of the shell's height, the aperture a third.

Color

The vast majority of specimens appear as yellow-white, with orange-brown bands. Usually there are 3 spiral bands on each whorl of the spire, up to 6 on the last whorl of the shell. Some brown spiral lines, especially those at the periphery, may be represented by separate streaks which curve axially.

Soft parts

The head is a thin ledge carrying the opening of an introvert on its underside and a pair of tentacles anteriorly. These are long and tapering, each with an eye behind and medial to its base. A pallial tentacle arises from the mantle edge on the right. In males (small, young animals) a penis with an open seminal groove on its dorsal side arises behind the right tentacle; in females (larger, older) a vestige of this persists. The foot is large but narrow, broad anteriorly, with conspicuous opercular lobes behind. The animal is white.

Habitat

''Eulima glabra'' is ectoparasitic on

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s, probably

ophiuroid Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

s, and live

sublittoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely in ...

ly to depths of approximately 200 m. The animals are consecutive

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

s and the life history probably includes a free

veliger A veliger is the planktonic larva of many kinds of sea snails and freshwater snails, as well as most bivalve molluscs (clams) and tusk shells. Description The veliger is the characteristic larva of the gastropod, bivalve and scaphopod taxono ...

stage.

Distribution

This marine species ranges from the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

to the British Isles where it has been found from south-west

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the south and west of Ireland, as far north as

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

; not in the southern

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. This species occurs in the following locations: *

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an waters (ERMS scope) *

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Exclusive Economic Zone * Irish Exclusive Economic Zone *

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Exclusive Economic Zone

References

External links

Forbes, E. (1838). Malacologia Monensis: a catalogue of the Mollusca inhabiting the Isle of Man and the neighbouring sea. Edinburgh: J. Carfrae and son pp. XII + 63 + 3 pl

Donovan E. (1799-1804). The natural history of British shells: including figures and descriptions of all the species hitherto discovered in Great Britain, systematically arranged in the Linnean manner, with scientific and general observations on each. 5 volumes, London, printed for the Author, and for F. and C. Rivington, 180 plates with unpaginated text.

Da Costa, Mendes E. (1778). Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, or, the British conchology; containing the descriptions and other particulars of natural history of the shells of Great Britain and Ireland: illustrated with figures. In English and French. - Historia naturalis testaceorum Britanniæ, ou, la conchologie Britannique; contenant les descriptions & autres particularités d'histoire naturelle des coquilles de la Grande Bretagne & de l'Irlande: avec figures en taille douce. En anglois & françois., i-xii, 1-254, i-vii, [1], Pl. I-XVII. London. (Millan, White, Emsley & Robson)

Sowerby, G. B., I; Sowerby, G. B., II. (1832-1841). The conchological illustrations or, Coloured figures of all the hitherto unfigured recent shells. London, privately published

Pennant, T. (1777). British Zoology, vol. IV. Crustacea. Mollusca. Testacea. London. i-viii, 1-154, Plates 1-93

Payraudeau B. C. (1826). Catalogue descriptif et méthodique des Annelides et des Mollusques de l'île de Corse. Paris, 218 pp. + 8 pl.

Jeffreys J.G. 1884. On the Mollusca procured during the 'Lightning' and 'Porcupine' expeditions, 1868-70. (Part VIII). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1882: 341-372, pl. 26-28
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5409150 glabra Gastropods described in 1778 Taxa named by Emanuel Mendes da Costa