Nipponotrophon stuarti

Nipponotrophon stuarti
	Apertural view; shell 53.4 mm long
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda; clade Hypsogastropoda; clade Neogastropoda
Family:	Muricidae
Subfamily:	Trophoninae
Genus:	Nipponotrophon
Species:	N. stuarti
Binomial name
	Nipponotrophon stuarti; (E. A. Smith, 1880)
Synonyms [1]
	Boreotrophon smithi Dall, 1902; Boreotrophon stuarti (E.A. Smith, 1880); Trophon stuarti E. A. Smith, 1880; Trophon (Boreotrophon) stuarti E. A. Smith, 1880;

Nipponotrophon stuarti is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.

Description

The shell is bone white to yellow cream in color with an elevated spire, a waxy appearance and texture, a very distinct suture, and a weakly curved, fairly short, slender siphonal canal. The shell has two nuclear whorls (which are typically eroded) and five to six subsequent whorls. The whorls bear 10 wide blade like varices which are prominent at the shoulder, where they rise into blunt rounded tips that curve backwards from the aperture of the shell. The surface texture of the shell appears smooth and waxy, however under magnification microsculpture is visible consisting of minute striations both spirally and longitudinally. The aperture is an elongated oval in shape. Length 50 to 60 mm.[2][3]

Original Description by E. A. Smith:
"Testa breviter fusiformis, alba. Anfractus 7, superne planati et angulati lateribis planis costis late lamelliformbus, aliquanto obliquis, erectis, superne ad angulum valde sursum productis dextrosumque curvatis, costis transversis (in anfr. superioribus 2-3, in ultimo 4) aequidistantibus, et sipra longitudinalibus continuis instructi. Apertura irregulariter ovata, inferne in canalem producta. Canalis curvatus, retrorsus, aperturam fere aequans. Columella leviter arcuata, callo tenui extus libera induta. Labrum expansum, costa ultima lamelliformi extus munitum. Long., 53; diam., 21; long. apert., 31; lat. intus, 10 mm." [4]

Distribution

This species is found in Alaska at extreme low tide and ranges south in deeper water along the West Coast all the way to San Diego in California.[2][3]

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References

Roland Houart (2012). "Nipponotrophon stuarti (E. A. Smith, 1880)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
The Marine Shells of the West Coast of North America, Vol II, Part II (1927), by Ida Shepard Oldroyd, Stanford University Press, pp. 38–39.
American Seashells, Second Edition (1974), by R. Tucker Abbott, p. 189, ISBN 0-442-20228-8
Edgar A. Smith (1880). "Description of twelve new species of shells". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 48 (3): 478–485. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1880.tb06588.x.

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[WoRMS-1] Roland Houart (2012). "Nipponotrophon stuarti (E. A. Smith, 1880)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved September 7, 2012.

[Oldroyd-2] The Marine Shells of the West Coast of North America, Vol II, Part II (1927), by Ida Shepard Oldroyd, Stanford University Press, pp. 38–39.

[Abbott-3] American Seashells, Second Edition (1974), by R. Tucker Abbott, p. 189, ISBN 0-442-20228-8

[4] Edgar A. Smith (1880). "Description of twelve new species of shells". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 48 (3): 478–485. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1880.tb06588.x.