Sinum cymba

Sinum cymba, common name the concave ear moon snail, is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Naticidae, the moon snails.^[1]

Sinum cymba
Five views of a shell of Sinum cymba
Apertural view of a shell of Sinum cymba
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Naticidae
Genus:	Sinum
Species:	S. cymba
Binomial name
Sinum cymba (Menke, 1828)
Synonyms[1]
Natica cymba Menke, 1828 Sigaretus maximus Philippi, 1844

It was classified by the German malacologist Karl Theodor Menke in 1828 with the name Natica cymba.

Description

Shell with a wide opening, brown and smooth; with an external coloration of purplish-brown to pale, gray or white, on a surface with a waxy shine, provided with fine spiral lines. The spiral is low and up to 7 centimeters long, when developed; ending in a broad turn. There is no umbilical underneath. The outer lip is thin and angular.^[2][3][4][5]

The species lives in cold, shallow waters.^[6]

Distribution

It is common in the eastern Pacific Ocean, on the coasts of South America to Chile, including the Galápagos, and southern Central America, in Panama.^[2][3]

Subfamily Sininae

The Naticidae of the subfamily Sininae have a low spiral and a wide aperture or so wide that they are mistaken for abalones without perforations; they have auriform (ear -shaped) shells. They have a very small horny operculum.