25 — Deep-sea turrid, Bathytoma (Riuguhdrillia) parengonius

Bathytoma (Riuguhdrillia) parengonius
Challenger Plateau 2007.

This is a turrid from the deep-sea and came from a research voyage out to the Challenger Plateau in 2007. It’s called Bathytoma (Riuguhdrillia) parengonius (Dell, 1956), which is a bit of a mouthful. Again, not all that much is known about this species, apart from it seems to be endemic to the northern half of offshore New Zealand, and they get up to about 40mm in size.

This turrid was found in what are called upper to mid-slope depths (~300–1300m). By slope I mean the continental slope, which starts at the edge of the continental shelf (around about 180–220m). It’s where the gradual gradient of the continental shelf gives way to the steeper continental slope, which then carries on down to the much deeper abyssal plains.

This is a really good introduction to the deep-sea: Ramirez-Llodra et al. (2011). Man and the last great wilderness: Human impact on the deep-sea. It's also an open access journal article, so it's a free download.


More info:

http://www.mollusca.co.nz/speciesdetail.php?speciesid=1280&species=Bathytoma%20%28Riuguhdrilla%29%20parengonius 

http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=Riuguhdrillia+parengonia&tag.cstype=all