Calliostoma_tigris

Calliostoma tigris tigris
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Gastropoda Order: Archaeogastropoda Family: Calliostomatidae Genus: Calliostoma Species: C. tigris Subspecies: C. tigris tigris
Trinomial name
Calliostoma tigris tigris (Gmelin, 1791)

Calliostoma tigris tigris is a large subspecies of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc. Some authors have placed this genus in the family Calliostomatidae, the Calliostoma top snails, but most malacologists prefer to leave it in the family Trochidae, the top snails.

Distribution

This subspecies is endemic to New Zealand.

Habitat

This top snail is found from low tide to depths of 130 m under rock ledges in clear water.

Shell description

The shell of Calliostoma tigris tigris, underside view

The shell of this subspecies is large but rather thin. The early whorls are concave, but the later whorls are strongly convex. The shell exterior has a sculpture of numerous fine granular spirals. There are rather closely-spaced, dark narrow axial stripes, which are a reddish-chestnut color on a creamy-white ground. The aperture and interior of the shell is iridescent, and the operculum is horny and circular, multispiral, with a central nucleus.

The shell height is up to 77 mm, and the width is up to 76 mm.

References

• Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1

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