Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Superfamily Trochoidea Rank Species | Phylum Mollusca Clade Vetigastropoda Family Trochidae | |
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Oxystele merula is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.
Contents
Description
The height of the shell varies between 27 mm and 40 mm, its diameter between 35 mm and 41 mm. The rather depressed conoidal shell is imperforate. Its color is lusterless purplish-black. The conical spire has an eroded yellowish apex. The following whorl is spirally striate. The last two whorls are smooth. The six whorls are convex. The sutures are distinct. The body whorl is not carinated at the periphery, rather flattened on the base, and usually slightly eroded in front of the aperture. The large aperture is oblique. The outer lip has a black margin and is within silvery. The nacre is smooth, but apparently lirate. The thin, white columella is arcuate and simple. The umbilico-columellar region is surrounded by a beautiful rose-colored tract.
Distribution
This marine species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off Angola, Namibia and the Cape Region, South Africa.