''Septa rubecula'', common name : the ruby triton or the red redbreast triton, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...

sea snail, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod

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 es ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Cymatiidae Cymatiidae is a family of large sea snails in the superfamily Tonnoidea and the order Littorinimorpha. Members of this family are predators. Genera The family Cymatiidae contains the following genera: * '' Argobuccinum'' Herrmannsen, 1846 * ' ...

Subspecies

* ''Septa rubecula rebeculum'' * ''Septa rubecula occidentale''

Distribution

This species is distributed in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

off

Chagos The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archi ...

, the

Mascarene The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Thei ...

basin and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

and in the Indo-West Pacific.; also off New Caledonia. Ranellidae - Septa rubecula

Description

The shell size of ''Septa rubecula'' varies between 25 mm and 55 mm. These moderately small shells are commonly rather solid, ovate and vetricose. The six convex

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 flo ...

s are sculptured with one varix on each whorl and with spiral cords, nodules and knobs.

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 moderately long. The external shell surface is quite variable in color. It may be bright or dark red, orange or brown with a small white or yellowish transversal band on whorls and with small white patches on varices. The outer

lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

is ornamented with 8–10 white prominent denticles. The

columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the ...

is reddish. The inner surface of 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 ...

is white. The

periostracum The periostracum ( ) is a thin, organic coating (or "skin") that is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including molluscs and brachiopods. Among molluscs, it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in gastropods a ...

is yellowish-brown.

Habitat

Under coral rocks, on sand and coral substrate at depths of 0.5 to 145 m.Encyclopedia of Life
/ref> Septa rubecula 01

References

Bibliography

* A.G. Hinton - Guide to Australian Shells * A.G. Hinton - Guide to Shells of Papua New Guinea * A.G. Hinton - Shells of New Guinea & Central Pacific * B. Dharma - Indonesian Shells I * C. Michel - Marine Molluscs of Mauritius * Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). ''Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice'' * F Springsteen, F. M. Leobrera - Shells of the Philippines * G. T. Poppe - Philippine Marine Molluscs Vol. 1 * Hirofumi Kubo and Taiji Kurozumi - Molluscs of Okinawa * R. Tucker Abbott - Seashells of South East Asia * Thomas Henning, Jens Hemmen - Ranellidae & Personidae of the World * ITIS: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Orrell T. (custodian) * Beu, A. (2010). Catalogue of Tonnoidea. Pers. comm {{DEFAULTSORT:Septa Rubecula Cymatiidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus