Family Personidae - distorsios

  Order
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  Class
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Gastropoda
  No. of Genera in Ref.
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  No. of Species in Ref.
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  Environment
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Fresh : No | Brackish : No | Marine : No
  Aquarium
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  First Fossil Record
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  Remark
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Shell fusiform, inflated, moderately long and roughly sculptured. Spire whorls irregular, bumped, with a wavering suture. Sculpture with nodulous axial and spiral ribs, and with low axial varices every 270 degrees. Peripheral ribs oftenforming a wide shoulder keel. Periostracum conspicuous, fibrous to hairy. Aperture distorted, narrowed by strong tuberculous teeth arising from the outer and inner lips. Inner lip strongly sinuous, deeply excavated in the middle, with an extensive shield-shaped callus. Outer lip often flared. Siphonal canal short to quite long, dorsally recurved anteriorly. Operculum corneous, irregularly ovate, its nucleus near the anterior end. Snout very long and slender, coiled when retracted. Foot rather short, subdued backwards. The natural history of distorsios is poorly known. Animals probably carnivorous, mainly subtidal, often associated with coral reef areas. Sexes separate. Eggs hatching as free-swimming larvae. Collected in subsistence harvest by fishermen in some areas. Shells are used in the local shellcraft industries of Southeast Asian countries (Ref. 348).
  Etymology
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  Division
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  Reproductive guild
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  Typical activity level
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  Main Ref.
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  Coordinator
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Ref.
[ e.g. 9948]                       
Glossary
                    [ e.g. cephalopods]