Ranella olearius
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| Ranella olearius | ||||||||||||||||
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| Ranella olearius (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Ranella olearius, also sometimes shown as Ranella olearia and Ranella olearium, is a species of very large sea snail with an operculum, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Ranellidae, the tritons.
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[edit] Distribution
This triton is found off the British Isles, in the Mediterranean Sea, West Africa, South Africa, and New Zealand.
[edit] Habitat
This large snail is found at depths of between 35 and 110 metres.
[edit] Shell description
The shell is large and solid, with a tall spire and a rounded aperture. The varices are prominent, rounded, but hollowed out on the inside. There is a sculpture of tubercular primary spirals and subsidiary dense weak cords.
The shell coloration is reddish-brown to dark chocolate-brown, the varices banded in white where crossed by the primary cords. The apertural callus is white, diffused around the edges with fawn, the interior of the aperture white. The periostracum is yellowish-brown, finely axially lamellate and pile-like. The operculum is thick, horny, dark-brown, ovate, with a subterminal nucleus.
The shell height is up to 203 mm, and width 101 mm.
[edit] References
- Powell A W B, New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1
- Mollusc Specialist Group 1996. Ranella olearia. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 07 August 2007.
- R. Tucker Abbott & S. Peter Dance, 1982, Compendium of seashells, Dutton, New York
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