| Assiminea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Apertural view of a shell of Assiminea grayana | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Littorinimorpha |
| Superfamily: | Truncatelloidea |
| Family: | Assimineidae |
| Genus: | Assiminea Fleming, 1828 |
| Type species | |
| Assiminea grayiana J. Fleming, 1828 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Assiminea is a genus of minute, salt-tolerant snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks, or micromollusks, in the family Assimineidae. [1]
These snails can be found worldwide. They live usually in brackish water between tide-marks on the mud of estuaries and salt marshes of tropical and temperate regions, at beaches, in water and at land. But species are to be found both in perfectly salt and in perfectly fresh water. [2]
These are very small to medium large snails, between 2 and 13 mm. Some adults do not exceed a size of 3 mm. Some related genera, such as Paludinella, are so remarkably similar in shell form that they are often confused.
The shape of the thin shells is somewhat ovately conical. The margin of the aperture is simple. The operculum is in most cases horny. [3] [4] The eyes are at the end of short, stout stalks. They feed on vegetable detritus and small algae. They lay their eggs in the mud, and hatch as free-swimming larvae.
According to the World Register of Marine Species, the following species with valid names are included within the genus Assiminea : [5]
The Indo-Pacific Molluscan Database also includes the following species with names in current use : [6]
The database ITIS also mentions the following species : [7]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .