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Speckled Tegula
Species

Speckled Tegula

Tegula gallina, (Forbes, 1852)

marine

About Speckled Tegula

Tegula gallina (or commonly, Speckled Tegula) is a North American species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tegulidae.

Appearance

The shell of T. gallina is typically 3⁄4 to 1+5⁄8 in (1.9 to 4.1 cm) high and wide, though it may be slightly higher than wide.

The imperforate, heavy, solid, thick shell has a conoidal shape and is elevated. Its colors show alternating whitish and purplish-grey or blackish crowded, slanting axial stripes, speckled with whitish. The stripes occupy the interstices between close, narrow superficial folds of the surface, which may be well-marked, or obsolete, continuous or cut into granules by equally close spiral furrows, the latter sometimes predominating.

Habitat

T. gallina lives on intertidal rocks. Its range extends from Santa Barbara County, California to Baja California (Pacific Ocean). Larger specimens of the species live in the southern portion of its range; it is often found alongside the less-common Black Tegula (T. funebralis).

Where to see it

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