(Pennant, 1777)

Description (shell):
Shell an elongate cone, length/breadth ratio 2:1, slightly transparent, glossy, with six to seven flat-sided or slightly tumid whorls, apex rounded; last whorl comprising >50 % of shell height, slightly angulate at periphery, especially in younger shells. Superficially smooth but with microsculpture of fine prosocline growth lines and finer spiral striae. Aperture slightly pear-shaped (more angulate in young shells), outer lip arising tangentially to last whorl, forming a slight spout basally where it meets columella; inner lip reflected over last whorl, leaving a small umbilical chink (H. ulvae-drawing).

Size:
Up to 6 x 3 mm.

Colour:
Periostracum horn-coloured, underlying shell white; viscera showing through apical whorls gives living shells a darker appearance.

Animal:
Body with long bifid snout, often with transverse band of dark pigment anteriorly and a triangular or shield-shaped pigmented area between cephalic tentacles; a single, small pallial tentacle projects from mantle edge near junction of last whorl and outer lip. Cephalic tentacles long, slender, setose, left slightly thicker than the right; eyes at base. A dark pigmented band placed at a distance greater than its own length from the tentacle tips. Penis large, a smooth sickle-shaped curve, with pointed tip (H. ulvae-animal).

Habitat:
A brackish water species favouring substrata of firm mud and muddy sand; most abundant above MTL, but found sublittorally down to 20 m.

Distribution:
Widely distributed from northern Norway to Senegal (Distr. H. ulvae).

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Subclass Prosobranchia
Superorder Caenogastropoda
Order Neotaenioglossa
Family Hydrobiidae
Genus Hydrobia
Species Hydrobia ulvae

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Hydrobia ulvae (Pennant, 1777)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Turbo ulvae Pennant, 1777
Peringia cyclolabris Bourguignat, 1876
Peringia castroi Locard, 1899
Peringia lusitanica Locard, 1899
Peringia paulinoi Locard, 1899
Peringia ulvae

Ankel, W.E., 1926. Lamellibranchia. In Grimpe, G. & Wagler, E.: Die Tierwelt der Nord- und Ostsee.

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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