Triviella ovulata
Triviella ovulata, common name "baby's toes", is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Triviidae, the trivias.
| Triviella ovulata baby's toes | |
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| A live individual of Triviella ovulata, head end towards the right | |
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| Species: | T. ovulata |
| Binomial name | |
| Triviella ovulata (Lamarck, 1810) | |
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Trivia ovulata (Lamarck, 1811) | |
Distribution
This snail is known around the South African coast from the Cape Peninsula to Coffee Bay in depths of 8–30 m. This species is endemic to the area.[1]
Description
Triviella ovulata has a plump, round, white to deep pink shell. In life the shell is usually completely covered with the white mantle, which is variably spotted with black.[2] It reaches a maximum size of 40 mm.
Ecology
This snail is usually found among colonial ascidians, on which it feeds. The snail first drills a hole in the wall of the colony, then eats its fill and finally lays its capsule-shaped egg cases in the resulting cavity. The black-spotted form of this animal resembles Mandela's nudibranch, Mandelia mirocornata, which may cause fish predators to avoid it.