Scabrotrophon stuarti

Scabrotrophon stuarti
Apertural view; shell 53.4 mm long
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Muricidae
Genus:	Scabrotrophon
Species:	S. stuarti
Binomial name
Scabrotrophon stuarti (E. A. Smith, 1880)
Synonyms [1]
Boreotrophon smithiDall, 1902 Boreotrophon stuarti(E.A. Smith, 1880) Nipponotrophon stuarti(E. A. Smith, 1880) Trophon stuartiE. A. Smith, 1880 Trophon (Boreotrophon) stuartiE. A. Smith, 1880 Trophonopsis stuarti(E. A. Smith, 1880)

Scabrotrophon stuarti is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails. ^[1]

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]}

References

1. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Scabrotrophon stuarti (E. A. Smith, 1880). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1329504 on 2021-10-02
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.
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.