Atlanta rosea Richter, 1993
Overview
This is a medium sized, dextrally shelled, pelagic snail, 0.5 cm in diameter with large eyes and a single swimming fin. The shell is large, strongly flattened and keeled. The colourless spire is very small. The adult shell may be slightly yellow, juveniles are reddish. The operculum has a very small spire. It is a carnivore predating on relatively large zooplankton. This species occurs in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean (Atlanta rosea).
Taxonomic Description [after Richter, 1993]
The shell is very flatly coiled, transparent, colourless or slightly yellow. Live young are clearly reddish. There is no shell sculpture. The number of whorls is up to 6. The fifth whorl is separated from the preceding one by the keel, the separation is narrow. The eyes are normal sized. The spire is smooth conical in shape by the very shallow suture that is hardly pronounced on the first 2.5 whorls. The eyes and operculum are the same type as in Atlanta peroni.
Shell diameter up to 5 mm.
Juveniles
The juveniles have a small, dextrally coiled shell. A special description is not yet available but the Atlanta rosea veliger is illustrated.
Reproduction
In this species the sexes are separate.
Ecology
This species is a carnivore and epipelagic.
Distribution
This species lives in the warm waters of the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, see the Atlanta rosea map.
Types
Atlanta rosea Souleyet, 1852: 377
Types are in BMNH.