(Müller, 1776)

Description (shell):
Shell smooth and conical without a marginal slit, apical hole or internal septum. Apex tilted forwards, about one third of shell length behind anterior end. In sublittoral animals the apex is more central (A. virginea-drawing).

Size:
Up to 10 mm long, 8 mm broad, 4 mm high.

Colour:
Pink lines on white-yellow background, the lines often broken to give a chequered pattern. Inner surface white or pink and smaller shells have a dark red V-shaped mark with the point near the apex and the arms diverging posteriorly.

Animal:
Mantle edge with red bands under those of the shell; no marginal tentacles and no pallial gills; a ctenidium in the nuchal cavity. Foot without epipodial tentacles and operculum. The head has a broad snout with two tentacles each with a small eye at its base. The lips round the mouth are drawn out into posterior lobes. Flesh white, yellow or pale pink; mantle edge with glands which are chalk white or scarlet.

Habitat:
At LWST to depths of 100 m. Common in rock pools, also attached to the underside of smooth, fixed stones with a growth of red weeds, especially Lithothamnion , on which it feeds.

Distribution:
On both coasts of the North Sea (Distr. A. virginea). Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Subclass Prosobranchia
Superorder Archaeogastropoda
Order Docoglossa
Family Acmaeidae
Genus Acmaea
Species Acmaea virginea

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Synonym of Tectura virginea (O.F. Müller, 1776)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Patella virginea Müller O.F., 1776
Patelloida virginea (Müller, 1776)
Tectura virginea (Müller, 1776)
Patella parva da Costa, 1778
Patella pulchella Forbes, 1835
Lottia unicolor Forbes, 1844
Tectura virginea var. conica Jeffreys, 1865
Tectura virginea var. lactea Jeffreys, 1865

Graham, Alastair F.R.S., 1988. Molluscs: Prosobranch and Pyramidellid Gastropods. Synopses of the British fauna (NS), 2: 1-662.

Hayward, P.J., Wigham, G.D. & N. Yonow, 1990. Mollusca I: Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda, and Gastropoda. In: The Marine Fauna of the British Isles and North-West Europe. (ed. P.J. Hayward & J.S. Ryland). Clarendon Press, Oxford: 628-730.

Poppe, G.T. & Y. Goto, 1991. European Seashells. Vol. I. 352 pp. Wiesbaden/Verlag Christa Hemmen.

Seaward, D.R., 1990. Distribution of the marine molluscs of north west Europe. Nature Conservancy Council.

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You can continue searching for Acmaea virginea on one of these Web sites:

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