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  • José H. Leal

Shell of the Week: The Bowden Murex

Pazinotus bowdenensis (E. H. Vokes, 1970), reaches about 14 mm (about 0.6 inch) in height. It shows a sculpture of about 6–7 strong varices per whorl. The varices bear prominent, curved spines on whorl shoulders. The color is whitish to cream-yellow, but some shells can be translucent and very delicately colored. The species was first named by Emily Vokes from a single fossil shell from the Bowden Formation (late Pliocene) in Jamaica but has since been found living off western Florida and Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico. The shell in the photos was dredged between 305–366 meters off Egmont Key, Florida. (Thanks to Kevan Sunderland for identifying this elusive species.)


Pazinotus bowdenensis. Illustration by José H. Leal for the Eastern Seaboard project.
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