Dear Jim,

You have a very uncommon (at least in the Atlantic Ocean) species:

Linatella cutacea  (Lamarck, 1816) , the  Ringed Triton.

It has been called a variety of names, including Cymatium caudatum (Gmelin,
1791), but Alan Beu (1998) pointed out that Buccinum caudatum Gmelin, 1791 is a
secondary junior homonym, making it  unavailable for this taxon. Treated as
Cymatium cingulatum (Lamarck, 1822), a junior synonym, by Abbott (1974).
Another
well-travelled junior synonym is C. poulsenii Mørch, 1877.

It is circumtropical in distribution (Talavera, 1982; Vermeij and Rosenberg,
1993; Beu, 1998).

It is a rare species in N. E. Florida, but Jim Keeler (pers. comm.) and the
Gulf Coast Shell Club (May 1, 1997 list of 497 species) have collected it in
your waters.

Finally I have a chance to employ a "slashed o"  (Mørch) in context!!!

Harry.


At 01:37 AM 5/25/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Attention all Cymatium experts,
>I have posted three pictures of a specimen I found at one of our Florida
>Panhandle scallop dumps at the following URL:
>http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=412573&a=6428971
>
>At first I thought it was just a worn C. parthenopeum, but when I compared
>it to my other specimens tonight, I realized there are some differences:
>For one thing, the siphonal canal is very long. Next, the aperture is quite
>light, without the dark markings of your average parthenopeum (and no, this
>isn't a really worn shell -- the aperture still has a good gloss. Finally,
>it is missing the typical varices of C. parthenopeum. Naturally, I'm hoping
>it's something unusual (though it hardly ever is, right?).
>
>Any thoughts on this one?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Jim
>
>
>Jim Miller
>Tallahassee, Florida
>[log in to unmask]

Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA   904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm

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