Mangrove periwinkle
Littoraria angulifera or the mangrove periwinkle is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Littorinidae, the winkles.
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
A planktivore is an aquatic organism that feeds on planktonic food, including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are usually photosynthet...
Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous an...
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starts withThe maximum recorded shell length is 41 mm. The shell usually has six whorls, the large first one occupying half the length of the snail. The color varies from slaty-brown through reddish brown to orange, dull yellow and off white. The smaller whorls have white spots near their edges and also some darker streaks which fuse together on the largest whorl.
This species occurs in the Caribbean Sea and the western Atlantic Ocean from Florida south to Brazil. It is also found in the eastern Atlantic between Senegal and Angola. It lives mainly above sea level on the branches and prop roots of the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle ).
![An individual of Littoraria angulifera (Lamarck, 1822)[1] over bushes in a estuary placed in Holland Park, Hollywood, Florida, United States.](https://s3.animalia.bio/animals/photos/medium/original/littoraria-angulifera-28lamarck2c-182229-inaturalistorg2.webp)
Littoraria angulifera is a herbivore and browses on fungi and algae growing on the mangroves.
Littoraria angulifera is ovoviviparous. Fertilized eggs are brooded inside the periwinkle and the veliger larvae are then released and become planktonic. After about 9 weeks these develop into pediveliger larvae which undergo metamorphosis and settle.
![An individual of Littoraria angulifera (Lamarck, 1822)[1] over bushes in a estuary placed in Holland Park, Hollywood, Florida, United States.](https://s3.animalia.bio/animals/photos/medium/original/littoraria-angulifera-28lamarck2c-182229-inaturalistorg1.webp)