- Glossary
A short glossary on meanings of some terms used in marine biology.
- adductor muscle
- muscles in bivalves used to close the shell
- anterior
- to the front
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- aperture
- an opening or hole in the gastropod shell
- apex
- the tip or highest point of the shell
- base
- the lowest end of a gastropod
- beak
- tip of bivalve shell above hinge
- callus
- a layer covering the umbilicus in gastropods
- checkered
- having a pattern of squares
- columella
- central pillar of shell
- concentric
- sculpture which is parallel to the margin in cap shaped
shells
- conic
- shaped like a cone
- dorsal
- on the back
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- encrusting
- crust like, thin, flatten against substratum; said of
the vegetative habit of some green, brown, and red algae
- flange
- a projecting rim
- fluting
- grooves in the shaft of a column
- groove
- a long narrow channel
- hinge
- a joint in between the shells of a bivalve
- incised
- cut into or carved
- inner lip
- portion of shell around the left side of the aperture
in a gastropod
- interspaces
- spaces in-between the sculpture on a shell
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- lateral
- to the side
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- margin
- border or edge of shell
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- mottling
- to mark with blotches of different colors or shades
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- muscle scar
- a mark on the underside of a shell where a muscle was
attached
- nodes
- bumps on the lower part of the columella
- outer lip
- portion of shell around the right side of the aperture
in a gastropod
- peripheral
- towards the edge or boundary of the shell
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- posterior
- to the back
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- radial
- sculpture which extends from the center of the shell
outward toward the margin in cap shaped shells
- ribs
- raised folds on the surface of a shell
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- ridge
- similar to ribs, but milder
- scalloped
- made up of a series of curves (on the edge of the shell)
- scaly
- covered with thin platelike layers or pieces
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- sculpture
- carving on surface of a shell, such as ribs and ridges
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- serrate
- having sawlike notches along the edge
- shoulder
- portion of shell above base which bulges out
- sinuous
- bending or wavy
- siphonal canal
- canal at base of aperture, between inner and outer lip
- spirally coiled
- circling around a point in constantly increasing or decreasing
curves
- spire
- all the whorls starting from the apex downwards except
for the last one
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- subcentral
- around or towards the center
- substrate
- surface on which the shell lives, such as rock or seaweed
- suture
- the spiral trace of each whorl’s juncture with its
adjacent whorl
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- tessellation
- a mosiac pattern of small square blocks
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- tooth
- a sharp projection on the base of the outer lip
- umbilicus
- hole or indentation in the base of the columella
- ventral
- on the bottom or belly
- whorl
- each turn of a spiral shell
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