At about 0.5 inch in size, the Dubious Cerith, Finella dubia (d’Orbigny, 1840) is one of the small gastropods dwelling in sea grass beds around Southwest Florida and other parts of the tropical Western Atlantic. Dubious Ceriths feed on plant and algal detritus. The shell is elongate, turret-shaped, with three strong spiral cords. The shell color may be cream to light-brown with faint spots of darker color. The additional image, taken under a high-power scanning electron microscope (SEM), shows a juvenile shell sorted from Sanibel beach drift (SEM images do not show color.)
The Dubious Cerith, Finella dubia. From left, adult shell, very young shell imaged under a scanning electron microscope (black scale line = 0.1 mm, or 0.004 inch!) All photos by José H. Leal.