| Smaragdia viridis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Five views of a shell of Smaragdia viridis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Neritimorpha |
| Order: | Cycloneritida |
| Family: | Neritidae |
| Genus: | Smaragdia |
| Species: | S. viridis |
| Binomial name | |
| Smaragdia viridis | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Smaragdia viridis. common name the "emerald nerite" is a species of small, green sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Neritidae, the nerites. [2]
The distribution of Smaragdia viridis is disjunct, consisting of the Mediterranean Sea and the Caribbean Sea. [3]
The shell is oval, depressed, light green with a yellowish hue, smooth and shiny. The shell often has interrupted fine bands or lines in white and/or purple. The columellar region of the shell is greenish white, broad, convex, margin curved and with fine teeth. The maximum length of the shell is 7.5 mm. [3] The maximum recorded shell length is 8 mm. [4]
The visible soft parts of the animal are the same shade of green as the shell.
Smaragdia viridis is a marine littoral species. [3] Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. [4] Maximum recorded depth is 20 m. [4] It is documented to feed directly on seagrasses, rather than on their algae epiphytes, as is the case with many other seagrass-associated snails. The species it feeds on are different in the two different areas of its distribution. In the Mediterranean the species has been recorded feeding on Posidonia oceanica , Zostera marina and Cymodocea nodosa [5] [6] whereas in the Caribbean it consumes Thalassia testudinum , Halodule wrightii and Syringodium filiforme . [7]
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [3]
