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Neverita duplicata

Neverita duplicata
Core Banks - Moon Snail.JPG
A live Neverita duplicata at Core Banks, North Carolina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily: Naticoidea
Family: Naticidae
Genus: Neverita
Species: N. duplicata
Binomial name
Neverita duplicata
(Say, 1822)
Synonyms

Polinices duplicatus (Say, 1822)


Polinices duplicatus (Say, 1822)

Neverita duplicata, common name the shark eye, is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Naticidae, the moon snails.

In 2006, a paper was published which made it clear that a second, very similar, species with a smaller range of distribution also lives in part of the range inhabited by Neverita duplicata. The second species had previously been considered to be simply a form of N. duplicata, but it is now recognized as Neverita delessertiana.

This is a common western Atlantic species. It is found from Massachusetts and other parts of New England, south to Florida and other states on the Gulf of Mexico, south to Honduras.

The shell has a flattened globular shape, and reaches about 88 to 90 millimetres (3.5 to 3.5 in) in maximum dimension. The color of the shell is variable, but is often a greyish brown. The central apex of the shell is often a dark blue in fresh shells, which can make the shell somewhat resemble an eye. On the underside, there is a large brown callus which partly blocks the umbilicus of the shell.

The maximum recorded shell length is 82 mm.

A model of a live individual of Neverita duplicata

Apical view of Neverita duplicata

Lateral view of the same shell


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Wikipedia

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