Tricolia speciosa (von Mühlfeldt, 1824)
Mediterranean.
Infralittoral, pn Phanerogams; abundant on the leaves. Grazer. Original taxon: Turbo speciosus.
Shellgrit, Town’s beach, Isola Rossa, NW. Corsica. 8-9mm.
Lengthened aperture. Shell somewhat translucent.
Under stones at 3-10m deep, Santa Ponça, Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Islas Balleares. 7mm. Typical pattern.
« General shape slender, with elevated spire and important development of last whorl. Whorls rounded, somewhat flattened at periphery, with impressed suture. Surface smooth and glossy, with indistinct growth lines. Shell material translucent in juvenile shells, tending to become opaque and porcellanous in adults (especially along the suture). Aperture oval, oblong, with a callus where the outer lip joins the preceding whorl. Inner lip closely appressed without any umbilicus or chink. » – S. Gofas: “The genus Tricolia in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean”, Journal of Molluscan Studies (1982), 48, p.201.

Above and below:
7-8m deep, in Posidonia meadows, Pace, north of Messina, E. Sicily. 10-11mm.
Although the vast majority of specimens share the same pattern, there are a large number of named variants: albina and lactea, maculata, viridis, aurea, purpurea, atra, sanguinea, virescens…
Camaruga, Tarranoga, Catalunya, NE. Spain. 11-12mm.
10-15m deep, on Posidonia, Capri island, Napoli, Campania, W. Italy. 11,5mm. Such patterns are found in meadows around the Tuscan archipelago (E. Campani).
Red-banded juveniles, and pattern of an adult, from 8m deep, Capite bay, Marina di Davia, Corbara, NW. Corsica. 3-5mm.
A dark specimen from 30m deep, sand bottom, off Poetto, Cagliari, S. Sardinia. 9mm.
Pale specimen on a leaf of Posidonia, Costa Brava, E. Spain.
Original picture provided by J. Regàs – (CC BY-NC-SA).
The operculum of speciosa. Left: the outer face, slightly pointed posteriorly; right: the inner face, with the paucispiral nucleus carved in anterior position; top: the operculum seen from labral side; bottom: the same, seen from columellar side.

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