Iceland moonsnail (Amauropsis islandica)

Distribution data supplied by the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS). To interrogate UK data visit the NBN Atlas.Map Help

Summary

Description

The Iceland moonsnail is a circumpolar marine predatory snail. The shell is white but with a yellow periostracum, giving it a cream colour, with several opaque points. It reaches up to 2.5 cm tall and 1.8 cm broad, and the shell possesses six swollen whorls. The last whorl occupies 80% of the shell size and bears noticeable growth lines. The umbilicus is absent. The eyes are hardly visible.

Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland

Amauropsis islandica is recorded in Scottish waters, mainly northeastern Scotland with most records present in Shetland, the Moray Firth and in the North Sea. Mostly absent on the western coast of Scotland, however, a few records have been identified in western Scotland near Oban.

Global distribution

Amauropsis islandica is a circumpolar species recorded from northern Norway and Russia in the Barrent and White Sea. It also is found locally in the northern North Sea, in the western Baltic Sea, and the North Atlantic Ocean around western Iceland, southern Newfoundland, and the northeastern coast of the United States. 

Habitat

Found almost exclusively on sandy and clay substratum bottoms, but never found in the intertidal.

Depth range

0 to 80 m, possibly up to 500 m

Identifying features

  • Shell has six tumid (swollen) whorls
  • Cream-coloured with a slightly translucent shell, not glossy
  • Last whorl makes up 80% of the shell’s height
  • Up to 2.5 cm high, 1.8 cm broad
  • Eyes hardly visible
  • Umbilicus absent

Additional information

It lays eggs is an egg collar like other naticids, in which each capsule is large and contains a single large egg that undergoes direct development.

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Further information sources

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Bibliography

  1. De Kluijver, M.J., Ingalsuo, S.S. & De Bruyne, R.H., 2018. Macrobenthos of the North Sea. Vol. I – Mollusca.  [On-line]. Linnaeus NG, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands. [cited 2024/09/20]. Available from https://ns-mollusca.linnaeus.naturalis.nl/linnaeus_ng/app/views/introduction/topic.php?id=3412 

  2. Fretter, V. & Graham, A., 1994. British prosobranch molluscs: their functional anatomy and ecology, revised and updated edition. London: The Ray Society.

  3. Graham, A., 1988. Molluscs: prosobranchs and pyramellid gastropods (2nd ed.). Leiden: E.J. Brill/Dr W. Backhuys. [Synopses of the British Fauna No. 2]

Datasets

  1. Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 2023. Mollusc (marine) records for Great Britain and Ireland. Occurrence dataset: https://doi.org/10.15468/aurwcz accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-09-27.

  2. MBA (Marine Biological Association), 2023. DASSH Data Archive Centre - Statutory Surveys. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/ytlexw accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-09-27.

  3. NBN (National Biodiversity Network) Atlas. Available from: https://www.nbnatlas.org.

  4. OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System),  2024. Global map of species distribution using gridded data. Available from: Ocean Biogeographic Information System. www.iobis.org. Accessed: 2024-10-26

Citation

This review can be cited as:

Maleed, M., 2024. Amauropsis islandica Iceland moonsnail. In Tyler-Walters H. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Reviews, [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 26-10-2024]. Available from: https://marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/2361

Last Updated: 24/09/2024