Bayerotrochus tangaroanus

Bayerotrochus tangaroanus, common name : the Tangaroan Slit Shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Pleurotomariidae.[1]

Bayerotrochus tangaroanus
Shell of Bayerotrochus tangaroanus (Bouchet & Métivier, 1982), measuring 59.2 mm height by 70.6 mm diameter, reportedly trapped at 1500 feet off West Australia.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily:
Pleurotomarioidea
Family:
Pleurotomariidae
Genus:
Bayerotrochus
Species:
B. tangaroanus
Binomial name
Bayerotrochus tangaroanus
(Bouchet & Métivier, 1982)
Synonyms[1]
  • Perotrochus tangaroanus Bouchet & Métivier, 1982

Description

The shell has a typical trochoid shape with a spire angle of approximately 90 degrees and nearly straight sided profile until the later whorls which are slightly rounded with an oblique periphery and a clearly defined suture. The base is inflated and rounded with a small columellar callus at the center covering roughly 10 percent of the base area. The aperture is oval, the slit is positioned roughly halfway between the periphery and the suture and is relatively short, about 16 percent of the circumference. The shell is lightly sculptured with fine spiral threads which are more clearly defined below the selenizone (the area where the shell growth filled in the slit) crossed by stronger axial growth lines which gives the effect of a weak rectangular pattern. The base has 38 to 40 fine spiral threads.

The protoconch and primary whorls are white and are smooth, the rest of the shell is creamy peach to white, or pale pink, with a slight iridescent sheen and occasional sparse pale reddish axial flammules. Occasionally the selenizone has thin orange lines. The base is the same color as the body, and the interior of the aperture is nacreous (pearly). The shell is regularly found without a periostracum. The operculum is relatively large, roughly circular, pale brown, and multispiral. Size range: 47 to 69 mm diameter.[2][3]

Distribution

This species has been found at depths greater than 400 meters from one particular area between the South Fiji Basin and Three Kings Rise in the South Pacific north of New Zealand.[2]

gollark: The market allows basically anyone to get them with saving, and can you think of a a *better* option?
gollark: FOR SCIENCE!
gollark: Why?
gollark: Unless it was a market prize, obviously.
gollark: If I got one, I would name it "I Still Want Market Prizes".

References
  1. Bayerotrochus tangaroanus (Bouchet & Métivier, 1982). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 3 April 2011.
  2. Anseeuw, P. & Goto, Y., The Living Pleurotomariidae (1996), Elle Scientific Publications, Osaka Japan, pp. 202, at pp. 148–149.
  3. Original description: P. Bouchet & B. Métivier, Living Pleurotomariidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the South Pacific (1982) Vol. 9:313–316.
  • Williams S.T., Karube S. & Ozawa T. (2008) Molecular systematics of Vetigastropoda: Trochidae, Turbinidae and Trochoidea redefined. Zoologica Scripta 37: 483–506.
  • "Bayerotrochus tangaroanus". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 26 November 2011.


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