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Lined Top Shell
Species

Lined Top Shell

Phorcus lineatus, (da Costa, 1778)

marine

About Lined Top Shell

Phorcus lineatus, common name the lined top shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails. It is native to shores of the eastern North Atlantic Ocean.

Appearance

The size of the shell varies between 10 mm and 35 mm. The very thick and solid imperforate shell is subperforate in the young. It has a globose-conic shape. It is dull grayish, densely marked all over with very numerous fine flexuous or zigzag braided purplish-black lines. The spire is conic. The 6 to 7 whorls are convex. The apex is usually eroded and orange-colored. The body whorl is flattened around the superior portion. The base of the shell is eroded in front of the aperture. The aperture is oblique. The columella is short, obtusely subdentate near the base, spreading at the insertion into a heavy callous, which covers the umbilicus.

Habitat

This species occurs in the following locations:

Where to see it

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