Tricolia tenuis (Michaud, 1829)
Mediterranean to Black Sea, to Cabo Verde.
Grazer on Phanerogams in sheltered infralittoral.
Original taxon: Phasianella tenuis.
Due to some transitional variants close to T. pullus, one synonym is intermedia. But there are, however, some reliable differences with pullus: spire higher, with less rounded whorls, and only one color with two spiral bands of blotches on the last whorl. – Beach grit, Isola Rossa, NW. Corsica. 7mm.
This shell is not a tenuis but a pullus: the twin bands are missing and the whorls are rather rounded.
Cassis, Provence, S. France. 4,5mm.
Comparison between tenuis (top) and pullus (bottom): the dotting is finer in tenuis, the shape is rounder in adults; the coloured subsutural flames are missing, and the patterned bands on the last whorl seem to be always two, while their number varies from 0 to 3 in pullus.

Saint-Laurent de la Salanque, on the shore, Étang de Salses-Leucate, eastern Pyrenees, S. France. Sizes circa 6mm.
Original pictures provided by S. Clanzig (FR).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –
Leucate, Occitania, S. France. Notice the ciliated tentacles.
Original picture provided by S. Clanzig (FR).
– (CC BY-NC-SA) –

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