Lettered olive
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The lettered olive, Oliva sayana, is a species of large predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Olividae, the olive shells, olive snails, or olives.[1][2]
Subspecies
since April 2010[update]Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., the lettered olive contains the following accepted subspecies:[3]
- Oliva sayana sarasotensis Petuch & Sargent, 1986
- Oliva sayana sayana Ravenel, 1834
- Oliva sayana texana Petuch & Sargent, 1986
Distribution
The species' range is from North Carolina to Florida, the Gulf states of North America, including Louisiana and Texas; and further south to the east coast of Mexico, including Campeche State, Yucatán State and Quintana Roo.[4][5] It may also occur in Brazil.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Habitat
The lettered olive typically lives in near-shore waters, on shallow sand flats near inlets. The empty shell is occasionally, or sometimes commonly, washed up onto ocean beaches.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Shell description
The shell of this species can be about Script error: No such module "convert". long (maximum reported size reaches 9.1 cm[4]). It is a smooth, shiny, cylindrical-shaped shell with a short spire. The aperture is narrow and extending almost the length of shell, continuing around the bottom and ending in a notch on the other side. The suture is V-cut and deep. The lower part of the whorl is just above where the suture extends outward and then at a sharp shoulder drops into the suture.
The shell coloration can vary from cream to a greyish exterior with reddish-brown zigzag markings. The common name of this species is derived from the darker surface markings that sometimes resemble letters.
Life habits
Like all olives, the lettered olive is a carnivore: it captures bivalves and small crustaceans with its foot and takes them below the sand surface to digest.[6]
Its presence is sometimes detected at very low tides by the trails it leaves when it crawls below the surface on semi-exposed sand flats.[6]
Females lay floating, round egg capsules that are often found in beach drift. Young are free swimming.[6]
Human use
Colonists and early Native Americans made jewelry from these shells.[6]
The lettered olive is the state shell of South Carolina.[6]
References
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Oliva sayana Ravenel, 1834. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=208387 on 2021-11-02
- ↑ Template:WRMS species
- ↑ a b Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e Lettered Olive, NC Sea Grant
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- Petuch E.J. & Sargent D.M. (1986). Atlas of the living olive shells of the world. xv + 253 pp., 39 pls.
- Petuch E.J. (1988). Neogene history of tropical American mollusks. Charlottesville, Virginia: The Coastal Education and Research Foundation. 217 pp., 23 figs + unnumbered figs, 39 pls.
- Rosenberg, G.; Moretzsohn, F.; García, E. F. (2009). Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in: Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.