Slit shells are large sea snails of the family Pleurotomariidae, named for a distinctive slit along the outer edge of the shell that vents water and waste from the gills as the animal grows. The family has an ancient fossil record stretching back hundreds of millions of years, with a great diversity of extinct forms known mostly from Paleozoic rocks, so living slit shells are often described as living fossils. Today's species live in deep water on the outer edges of reefs and continental shelves, mostly in the tropics, and are rarely seen alive because of the depths they inhabit.
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) Living or Extinct Comparison
CITES Appendix Scientific Name Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Pleurotomariidae
In Biome
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Pleurotomariidae
WikipediaLead section
Pleurotomariidae, common name the "slit snails", is a family of large marine gastropods in the superfamily Pleurotomarioidea of the subclass Vetigastropoda.
Lead
They are preyed upon by crustacea and fish, but are remarkably resistant to attack, they secrete a white fluid when endangered, thought to repel predators.
View the Source 2. Slit shell (Wikipedia)
family currently represented by species living in deep waterView the Source 3. UNEP-WCMC Species+ database (CITES Secretariat): Species+: Gastropoda
UNEP-WCMC Species+ database (CITES Secretariat)Species+ taxon_concepts, id 44Quote, Species+ taxon_concepts, id 44
"cites_listing":"I/II/NC","eu_listing":"A/B/D/NC","higher_taxa":{"kingdom":"Animalia","phylum":"Mollusca","class":"Gastropoda","order":null,"family":null},"synonyms":[],"common_names":[{"name":"Snails And Conches","language":"EN"},{"name":"Escargots Et Strombes","language":"FR"},{"name":"Caracoles Y Conchas","language":"ES"},{"name":"腹足纲","language":"ZH"}],"cites_listings":[]
4. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Pleurotomariidae
GBIF Backbone TaxonomyTaxon recordQuote, Taxon record
"canonicalName": "Pleurotomariidae"
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