Hinea brasiliana
| Hinea brasiliana | |
|---|---|
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| An apertural view of a shell of Hinea brasiliana. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): |
clade Caenogastropoda clade Sorbeoconcha |
| Superfamily: | Cerithioidea |
| Family: | Planaxidae |
| Subfamily: | Planaxinae |
| Genus: | Hinea |
| Species: | H. brasiliana |
| Binomial name | |
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Hinea brasiliana (Lamarck, 1822) |
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| Synonyms | |
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clade Sorbeoconcha
Hinea brasiliana, common name the yellow-coated clusterwink, is a species of small sea snail, a gastropod mollusc in the family Planaxidae. It is native to New Zealand and southeastern Australia where it is found in the littoral zone of rocky shores. It is one of only a few sea snail species able to bioluminesce.
This species was described by under the name Buccinum brasilianum by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1822 based on the shell from the collection of William Paterson. The specific name brasiliana refer to the Brazil, because Lamarck thought, that it lives in the coast of Brazil. Unfortunately it does not live there.John Edward Gray moved this species to the newly created genus Hinea.
The shell of Hinea brasiliana is thick and heavy and grows to a length of about 21 mm (0.8 in). It is narrowly conical, either smooth or with shallow grooves between the approximately six spiral whorls. The aperture is small and constricted by a callus and the columella, the central structural axis, is thick. The shell is thin at the edge of the aperture but thickens rapidly away from the edge and this thickened part is marked with weak raised ridges known as lirae. There is a horny operculum which closes the shell when the soft parts are retracted inside. The colour of the shell is white both inside and out. The outer surface is protected at first by a yellowish-brown periostracum which eventually gets worn away.
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Wikipedia