Polystira albida

Polystira albida, common name white giant turris, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turridae, the turrids.^[1]

Polystira albida
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Turridae
Genus:	Polystira
Species:	P. albida
Binomial name
Polystira albida (G. Perry, 1811)
Synonyms[1]
Pleurotoma albida Perry G., 1811 (original combination) (type lost) Pleurotoma virgo Lamarck, 1816 Turris albida virgo J.B.P.A. Lamarck, 1822 Turris nivea Reeve, L.A., 1843

Distribution

P. albida can be found in Western Atlantic waters, ranging from the eastern coast of Florida south to Brazil.^[2][3][4][5]

Description

A shell of Polystira albida

Shells of Polystira albida can reach a size of 44–127 millimetres (1.7–5.0 in).^[3][4] These large shells are slender, fusiform, with a narrow and long aperture and a white external surface.

Habitat

These tropical benthic gastropods live at depths of 15 to 229 m.^[4][6]

Life cycle

Embryos develop into free-swimming planktonic marine larvae (trochophore) and later into juvenile veligers.^[6]

Bibliography

• John Tucker – Catalog of Recent & Fossil Turrids
• Lamarck, J. B. 1816. Tableau Encyclopédique et Méthodique des Trois Règnes de la Nature – Veuve Agasse: Paris.
• Norman A. Meinkoth – Audubon – Field Guide to North American Shells
• Perry, G. 1811. – Conchology – William Miller: London.
• Petuch, E. J. 1987. New Caribbean molluscan faunas – Coastal Education & Research Foundation: Charlottesville, Virginia.
• Reeve, L. 1843. Monograph of the genus Pleurotoma Conchologia Iconica
• Todd J.A. & Rawlings T.A. (2014). A review of the Polystira clade — the Neotropic's largest marine gastropod radiation (Neogastropoda: Conoidea: Turridae sensu stricto). Zootaxa. 3884(5): 445–491.,
• Turgeon, D. D., J. F. Quinn Jr., A. E. Bogan, E. V. Coan, F. G. Hochberg, W. G. Lyons, et al. (1998) – Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks, 2nd ed. – American Fisheries Society Special Publication