Personidae

Distorsio ventricosa

The Personidae are a family of mostly small marine snails of the tropical seas. They are placed in the superfamily Cassoidea the Caenogastropoda.

Features

The housings are rechtsgewunden and unevenly trochospiral rolled up. This uneven reel is also known as distortion ( origin of the name of the genus Distorsio ). The muzzle is elongated with edges turned up. The opening can be narrowed by folding and "teeth" ( protrusions ). The lower end is drawn out into a Siphonalkanal. The housings are highly ornamented in the rule. The Adult size ranges from about 4 cm to about 7 cm. The case opening being closed by an operculum. The foot is relatively small, as was Propodium. The head has no snout. Major salivary glands, such as, for example, have the closely related Triton snail paralyze the prey are not available. The family is the extent known dioecious. The ontogenetic development proceeds through a plankton -feeding veliger larva, the relatively long stays in the plankton. Finds of veliger larvae in the offshore plankton lead to the conclusion that they can overcome long distances in the ocean.

Way of life

Little is known about the lifestyle of Personiden. They live mainly in shallow water and go exceptionally to 600 m. In the stomach contents of two Personiden types of remains have been found of annelids.

System

The Personidae family is (still) not divided into sub-families:

• Personidae Gray, 1854 Distorsio Röding, 1798 ( = persona Montfort, 1810)
• Distorsiomina Beu, 1998
• Distorsionella Beu, 1978
• Personopsis Beu, 1988