Marginellidae
Margin Ella sp.
The edge snails ( Marginellidae ) are a family of mostly small, exclusively marine snails that are found in tropical and temperate seas. The screw feed as predators or ectoparasites of animal food. Over 400 species have been described.
Features
The broadly ovate to almost rounded housing of the edge snails have a short to shallow thread, a great body and a narrow approach to bloated housing estuary. The smooth surface is hardly or not sculpted, but can the outer lip outside and have a thickened edge, where the name of the screw stems, and the inside can have teeth. The columella is folded. An operculum is missing.
The jacket of the crawling snail wraps the edge of the housing.
The eggs of the dioecious snails are stored in egg capsules. At least in a part of the development of species veliger larvae runs in the capsule, so that finished screw slip, so even at the glabella frequent, the Mediterranean entrained West African type screen margin.
The screws are usually small, but there is next to tiny forms also some larger species.
Life, the occurrence and distribution
The Marginellidae are widespread in tropical and temperate seas, with the focus of the western Pacific and the Caribbean is located in tropical waters of West Africa. The snails live on sand, algae or under stones from the lower intertidal zone to depths of 1000 meters.
The snails live as predators, if known, of different prey. Thus, snails of the genus Cystiscus of bryozoans, other edge snails, however, feed on sea squirts, other such as margin Ella glabella of snails, while still others species, including Hydroginella caledonica and representatives of the genus Tateshia as ectoparasites on fish ( family Scaridae, Serranidae and Pomacentridae ) feed on blood.
System
After Bouchet and Rocroi ( 2005), the family Marginellidae one of twelve extant families in the superfamily Muricoidea. You divide the family Turbinellidae into three subfamilies:
- Granulininae G. A. Coovert & H.K. Coovert, 1995
- Marginellinae Fleming, 1828
- Marginelloninae Coan, 1965