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Seashells - Gastropods


Natural History Museum > Seashells - Gastropods

submitted by Museum Administration on 17.10.2003

Moon Operculum

Moon Operculum
Copyright (2003) Kythera Museum Of Natural History

The Moon Snails, which include Moon, Josephine, and Necklace Shells, have semi-circular, spiralled doors that close the snails safely inside their shells. The door is called an operculum, and in the Moon Snails it looks like a flattened version of the snail itself. This one is 2 cm long. Photograph © James Prineas, 2003

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