Siliquaria weldii

Taxobox
name = "Siliquaria weldii"


image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Mollusca
classis = Gastropoda
subclassis = Orthogastropoda
ordo = Mesogastropoda
familia = Siliquariidae
genus = "Siliquaria"
species = "S. weldii"
binomial = "Siliquaria weldii"
binomial_authority = Tenison Woods, 1876
synonyms = "Siliquaria cumingi" Suter, 1913

"Siliquaria weldii" is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Siliquariidae, common name the slit worm snails.

Distribution

This species is endemic to south east Australia, and the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand from North Cape to East Cape, and the Chatham Islands.

Habitat

This snail lives at depths of between 45 and 185 m and are usually found embedded in a dense yellow sponge. The rounded aperture of the shell shows on the surface of the sponge, but the rest of the shell is concealed.

hell description

The shell is white, with the appearance of a stretched-out corkscrew. The whorls are smooth, free for their entire length, and with a continuous narrow slit, its purpose assumed to be an exhalant path, a form of siphonal canal.

The shell length is up to 57 mm, and the tube width is up to 6 mm.

References

* Powell A. W. B., "New Zealand Mollusca", William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979 ISBN 0-00-216906-1