Kingdom Animalia Superfamily Neritoidea Genus Shinkailepas Phylum Mollusca | Class Gastropoda Family Phenacolepadidae Scientific name Shinkailepas kaikatensis Rank Species | |
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Shinkailepas kaikatensis is a species of sea snail, a false limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Phenacolepadidae.
Description
The individuals in the NOAA image are adults of 2 cm (0.75 in) living on rock surfaces at a hydrothermal vent at the East Diamante seamount, which is westsouthwest of the small island of Farallon de Medinilla in the Southern Seamount Province of the Mariana Islands. The hydrothermal vent at East Diamante is "shallower than 200 m (650 ft)" according to the NOAA description. The white dots on the rocks and on the limpet shells in this image are the egg capsules of the species.
References
Shinkailepas kaikatensis Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA