''Tenagodus anguinus'' 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 unusual

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 ...

Siliquariidae ''Siliquariidae'' is a family (biology), family of sea snails with unusual, very loosely coiled shells. These are marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily (taxonomy), superfamily Cerithioidea. Taxonomy The following two sub ...

, the slit worm shells.

Description

The shell is thick and irregularly coiled in a gradually tapered spiral, with rather distant whorls. It has longitudinal ridges with spines on them throughout its length. It is generally a dirty-looking white colour, pale yellow or buff. The uncoiled length could be up to .''Siliquaria anguina''
BioSearch. Retrieved 2012-01-11.

Distribution

''Tenagodus anguinus'' is found in the Indian Ocean including around

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 ...

References

* Born I. von (1780). ''Testacea Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis'' (...). Kraus, Vienna pp. XXXVI + 442 + 18 pl: page(s): 440 * Dillwyn, L. W. 1817. ''A descriptive catalogue of Recent shells, arranged according to the Linnean method; with particular attention to the synonymy''. London: John and Arthur Arch. Vol. 2:581-1092 + index 9 pp. page(s): 1079, 1080 * Tryon, G. W. 1886. ''Naticidae, Calyptraeidae, Pyramidellidae. Manual of Conchology 8''. Philadelphia. page(s): 256 * Hartman, Olga 1959. ''Catalogue of the Polychaetous Annelids of the World. Parts 1 and 2. Occasional Papers of the Allan Hancock Foundation'', 23: 628pp * Higo, S., Callomon, P. & Goto, Y. (1999) ''Catalogue and Bibliography of the Marine Shell-Bearing Mollusca of Japan''. Elle Scientific Publications, Yao, Japan, 749 pp * Bieler R. 2004. ''Sanitation with sponge and plunger: western Atlantic slit-wormsnails (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Siliquariidae)''. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 140(3): 307-333. * Fauchald, Kristian (2007). ''World Register of Polychaeta''

External links

Bieler, R., 1992. ''Tenagodus or Siliquaria? Unravelling taxonomic confusion in marine "worm-snails" (Cerithioidea: Siliquariidae).'' The Nautilus, 106(1): 15-20 (27 February)
Siliquariidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Siliquariidae-stub