West Indian False Cerith: Family Batillariidae
Lampanella minima (Gmelin, 1791)
West Indian False Cerith (Lampanella minima) is a small shell .5" that is somewhat rare on S. Hutchinson Island beaches.
Collected on S. Hutchinson Island, Decmeber 2020
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Family Batillariidae
Lampanella minima
(Gmelin, 1791)
West Indian False Cerith
Shell size to 20 mm; shell elongate. Sculpture of strong and weak spiral threads crossed by axial ribs. Aperture with siphonal canal bent sharply to left. Extremely variable species with many local forms. Color from light-gray to black, aperture dark-brown. False Ceriths feed on decomposing plant materials. This species, which may reach a little tad under an inch in length, is extremely abundant in and around the mangrove forests of South and Southwest Florida, where it may form veritable mats including thousands of individuals. (The species was, until recently, included in the genus Batillaria.)