62 — Deep-sea turrid, Gymnobela gypsata

Gymnobela gypsata Stn 56, NW
Challenger Plateau, ~1000m, 31/5/07.

Gymnobela gypsata Stn 56, NW
Challenger Plateau, ~1000m, 31/5/07.

Gymnobela gypsata Stn 56, NW
Challenger Plateau, ~1000m, 31/5/07.

Gymnobela gypsata * is another of those deep-sea gastropods for which very little is known. It appears to be endemic to deep-waters around New Zealand, and at depths down to at least 1700m. They can get to around 45 mm, so they're a reasonable size.

I've come across them a couple of times: a small one came from the intestines of a ridge-scaled rattail **, which was caught on the NE Chatham Rise from a depth of 1062m. The ones pictured here were collected from the north west Challenger Plateau during the Oceans 20/20 TAN0707 voyage, when a few of them came up in a beam trawl from ~1000m. My thanks again go to NIWA for my place on that trip.


*(Watson, 1881)
**(Macrourus carinatus (Günther, 1878))















More info:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03036758.2011.548763