Ergalatax contracta

Ergalatax contracta, the contracted rock shell, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.

Ergalatax contracta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Muricidae
Genus:	Ergalatax
Species:	E. contracta
Binomial name
Ergalatax contracta (Reeve, 1846)
Synonyms
Buccinum contractum Reeve, 1846 Buccinum funiculatum Reeve, L.A., 1846 Cronia martensi Dall, 1923 Ergalatax pauper Watson, R.B., 1886 Ergalatax recurrens Iredale, T., 1931 Morula ocellata (Reeve, 1846) Murex calcarius Dunker, 1860 Ocenebra contracta (Reeve, 1846) Ocinebra pilsbryana Baker, 1891 Pentadactylus ceylonicum Preston, 1909 Ricinula ocellata Reeve, 1846 Ricinula siderea Martens, E.C. von, 1874 Urosalpinx bandana Schepman, 1911 Urosalpinx innotabilis E. A. Smith, 1879 Urosalpinx smithi Schepman, 1911

Description

The shell size varies between 20 mm and 45 mm.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, in the Indian Ocean along Madagascar and as an invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Pacific Ocean along the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, Australia (the Torres Strait), Hawaii and Tonga.

References

• Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). Mollusques testaces marins de Madagascar. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
• Vine, P. (1986). Red Sea Invertebrates. Immel Publishing, London. 224 pp
• Streftaris, N.; Zenetos, A.; Papathanassiou, E. (2005). Globalisation in marine ecosystems: the story of non-indigenous marine species across European seas. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Annu. Rev. 43: 419–453

External links

• "Ergalatax contracta". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 18 December 2010.