Southwest Florida Shells
by José H. Leal
Family Tornatinidae
Acteocina canaliculata
(Say, 1826)
Channeled Barrel Bubble
Shell size to 5 mm; shell small, slightly pear-shaped. Spire usually less than 1/5 of shell length. Sculpture of very fine growth lines. Shoulder keeled in juvenile specimens, round in adults. Protoconch partially sunken. Aperture long, narrow, outer lip flaring anteriorly. Subsutural band moderately etched. Columella with single fold. Color porcellaneous-white. Foot and mantle translucent-white, with irregular opaque-white spots. No black pigmentation present. Cephalic shield and propodium present. Very similar to Acteocina candei, but A. canaliculata tends to have taller spire, more incised subsutural band, and it lives in more open-water locations. The shell in the main photo was tentatively identified by Paula Mikkelsen.