Cancellaria cooperii

(Redirected from Cooper's nutmeg)

Cancellaria cooperii, common name Cooper's nutmeg, is a species of medium-sized to large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cancellariidae, the nutmeg snails.[1]

Cancellaria cooperii
Apertural view of shell of Cancellaria cooperii Gabb, 1865
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Family: Cancellariidae
Genus: Cancellaria
Species:
C. cooperii
Binomial name
Cancellaria cooperii
Gabb, 1865

Description

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This species attains a size of around 95 mm.

Ecology

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Life habits

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This species is an ectoparasite that parasitizes the Pacific electric ray, Torpedo californica, and perhaps other benthic fishes.[2] Cooper's nutmeg is uncommonly found, offshore, on sandy substrate.
Known from depths 20 metres to 210 metres(prawn traps).

Distribution

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This nutmeg snail occurs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean from Monterey, California, to San Benito Island, in central Baja California, Mexico.

References

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  1. ^ Cancellaria cooperii Gabb, 1865. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 6 April 2010.
  2. ^ J. B. O'Sullivan, R. R. McConnaughey, and M. E. Huber, A Blood-Sucking Snail: The Cooper's Nutmeg, Cancellaria cooperii Gabb, Parasitizes the California Electric Ray, Torpedo californica Ayres (1987), Biol. Bull. 172: 362–366

Link to Biol. Bull. article

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  • McLean, James H., 1978, Marine Shells of Southern California, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Museum, Science Series 24, Revised Edition, p 51.