(Original
Forum Question : GOOD DAY COLLECTOR.
I JUST WONDER WHY SHELL HAS IT'S OWN PARTS. I HAVE HD SOME WORDS WHICH
I CERTAINLY DON'T UNDERSTAND. IS SOMEONE THERE WILLING TO GIVE THE
MEANING OF THE FF. WORDS.
1.
PERISTOME
2. LABRAL MARGINE
THAT'S ALL, BUT THERE MUST BE SOME OTHER WORDS WHICH I HAVE NOT HEARD
OF. I KNOW THE WHAT IS A BASE AND A DORSUM, AND OFCOURSE, A LIP, BUT
WHAT DO YOU CALL THE SHINY INTERIOR PART OF THE SHELL? IN THE CYPRAEAS
BODY, THERE ARE SOMETIMES DARK SPOTS WHICH IS QUITE SMALL THAT IT
IS ONLY VISIBLE IN VERY CLOSEUP VIEW, THEY LOOK LIKE STAINS THAT IS
PRMANENT. I CALL THEM SMOKY BLEMISHES, BUT WHAT RE THEY NORMLLY CALLED?
ANYONE?) |
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"Stoma" means
"mouth", and refers to the "mouth" - or more
correctly the "aperture" - of the shell. "Peri"
means "around", as in "perimeter"; so "peristome"
means "around the mouth", and refers to the rim or edge
of the aperture, all the way around. "Labrum" means "lip",
so the labral margin is the side of the aperture defined by the
lip of the shell, as opposed to the "columellar margin",
which is the side of the aperture bordering the columella, the central
axis around which the shell is coiled.
The interior
of the shell, shiny in some species, rather dull in others, has
no special name I know of. It is usually just designated the "interior
surface".
The markings you refer to in Cypraea - are they in the shell or
in the soft parts of the animal - the foot or mantle? I don't know
of any specific terminology for such markings in the shell. But
crustaceans and some other marine invertebrates have minute contractile
pigment-containing structures called chromatophores in the soft
tissues. That may be what you are referring to, if in fact you are
referring to the soft parts.
(Answer
by M. Paul Monfils via the Forum)
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