''Nassarius albescens'', common name : the whitish nassa, 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 ...

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

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 ...

Nassariidae The Nassariidae, Nassa mud snails (US), or dog whelks (UK) are a taxonomic family of small to medium-sized snails, mostly marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Neogastropoda. These snails have rounded shells with a high spire, an oval ap ...

, the Nassa mud snails or dog whelks. The subspecies : ''Nassarius albescens gemmuliferus'' (A. Adams, 1852) is a synonym of ''Nassarius gemmuliferus'' (A. Adams, 1852) ) (synonyms : ''Nassa (Niotha) albescens'' var. ''fenestratus'' (Marrat, 1877); ''Nassa (Niotha) fenestrata'' (Marrat, 1877); ''Nassa fenestrata'' Marratt, 1877; ''Nassa gemmulifera'' A. Adams, 1852; ''Nassa isabellei'' Reeve, 1853; ''Nassarius (Niotha) albescens gemmuliferus'' (A. Adams, 1852); ''Nassarius (Niotha) fenestratus'' (Marrat, 1877); ''Nassarius (Niotha) fenestratus'' var. ''gestroi'' Bisacchi, 1930; ''Nassarius fenestratus'' (Marratt, 1877);

Description

The length of the shell varies between 9 mm and 25 mm. Its surface

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 ...

has a distinctive fine network of evenly spaced nodules. 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 ...

is narrow or wide. The overall colour of the shell is creamy white while 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 brown.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Indian Ocean off

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

and in the Pacific Ocean off the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

; also reaching

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

References

* Hombron, J.B. & Jacquinot, C.H. (1842-1854). Atlas d'histoire Naturelle zoologie par MM. Hombron et Jacquinot, chirurgiens de l'expédition. Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée éxecuté par ordre du roi pendant les années 1837–1838–1839–1840 sous le commandement de M. Dumont-d'Urville, capitaine de vaisseau, publié sous les auspices du département de la marine et sous la direction supérieure de M. Jacquinot, capitaine de vaisseau, commandant de la Zélée. Zoologie. Gide & Cie, Paris. * Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). ''Mollusques testacés marins de Madagascar''. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III * Cernohorsky W. O. (1984). ''Systematics of the family Nassariidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda).'' Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum 14: 1–356 * Wells, F. E. (1994). The invertebrate community of subtidal sand habitats at Cape d' Aguilar, Hong Kong, with an emphasis on molluscs. In: Proceedings of the Third International workshop on the malacofauna of Hong Kong and Southern China (Eds. Motrton, B.). The malacofauna of Hong Kong and southern China III, pp467–477. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong. * Branch, G.M. et al. (2002). ''Two Oceans''. 5th impression. David Philip, Cate Town & Johannesburg * Liu, J.Y. uiyu(ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.

External links

Adams, A. (1852-1853). Catalogue of the species of Nassa, a genus of gasteropodous Mollusca belonging to the family Buccinidae, in the collection of Hugh Cuming, Esq., with the description of some new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. (1851) 19: 94-112
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q6967401 albescens Gastropods described in 1846