Coralliophila brevis is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae (the murex snails or rock snails), subfamily Coralliophilinae.
Taxonomy
- Original name: Purpura brevis Blainville, 1832
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Mollusca
- Class: Gastropoda
- Order: Neogastropoda
- Family: Muricidae
- Genus: Coralliophila
- Synonyms: Pyrula squamulata Philippi, 1836; Pyrula santangeli Maravigna, 1840; Pyrula borbonica Maravigna, 1842; Coralliophila alboranensis Smriglio & Mariottini, 2003; Coralliophila patula Settepassi, 1977 (not available under ICZN rules)
Description The shell reaches up to 20 mm in height, with a low spire and an ample body whorl that is usually irregularly developed according to the underlying substrate. The protoconch has 4 to 4½ whorls with two granulose cords at the periphery and a smooth, shiny subsutural area. The teleoconch features strong, squamose (scale-like) spiral cords, typically alternating one stronger cord with several lesser ones, though the cords tend to become even on the last whorl of large specimens. The interspaces are deeply incised and narrower than the cords. Axial folds are more conspicuous on the spire and attenuated on the body whorl. The aperture is broad and somewhat irregular, adapting to the substrate. The shell color is dirty white, with the interior of the aperture having a brownish or purplish hue.
Distribution The species is found in the Eastern Atlantic, in the Ibero-Moroccan area, uncommon at depths of 20–100 m; also recorded from the Josephine and Ampère seamounts, rare at 200–280 m; and in the Mediterranean Sea. The type locality is Sicily.
Ecology Coralliophila brevis is a corallivorous (coral-eating) snail that feeds parasitically on anthozoan cnidarians. Its larval development is planktotrophic, inferred from its multispiral protoconch. It is known from seamounts and knolls.
Status The species is accepted in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) as valid.
