On flank of sea-wall, 50cm upon low tide level, in crevice.
 
22mm. The crevices that meander under the causeway,the caries excavated
by the sea in the stone-work, offer excellent shelters to various Gastropods.
Unfortunately, a shell collector has not the right equipment to penetrate so far within the wall:
we lack tentacles. Many shells that live here show traces of scars; fallen stones, crabs?
T. testa imperforata conica livia lævi, anfractibus subcarinatis.
Habitat in M. Mediterraneo & Europæo.
Testa, exuta tunica extima, plumbea evadit.
Turriti umbilico exserto, qui positi cadunt in latus.
(Linnæus, Systema Naturæ X, Vermes, Testacea, Trochus, n.520 p.759).
 
 
Dominant species in the spot
 
33mm Sting Winkle. Quite dark for the species.
As expected, size increases with depth.
Linnæus placed this species in the genus Murex.
Erinaceus. 451. M. testa multifariam subfrondoso-spinosa,
spiræ anfractibus retuso-coronatis, cauda abbreviata.
Habitat in M. Mediterraneo.
Varicosi : suturis rotundatis torosis crassisque.
Syst. Nat. X / Vermes / Testacea / n.451 p.748. There is also a B. erinaceus in 390 p.736.
Freak 36mm specimen from the same crevice.
"Quasimodo, objet du tumulte, se tenait toujours sur la porte de la chapelle, debout,
sombre et grave, se laissant admirer."
V. Hugo: N.D. de Paris, 1831.
In human beings, beauty makes everything. Ocenebras do not have this bondage,
and spawn by dozens together. Hopefully, such distorted shells remain rare.