Shell of the Week: The Henderson’s Top Snail

Calliostoma hendersoni reaches 23 mm (a little less than an inch) in diameter. As with many other deep-water species of top snails (family Calliostomatidae) from the western Atlantic, this one has a very elegant shell. The base has reddish-brown spiral lines against a cream-colored background, a narrow but deep umbilicus, and the spire presents a slightly concave profile in lateral view. Most distinctively, Henderson’s Top Snail has a series of relatively large spots along the shell periphery (the outermost shell “edge”). The species lives in moderately deep water: this specimen was collected at 229 meters (about 750 ft) depth southwest of Key West, in southern reaches of the Gulf of Mexico. The shell was donated to the Museum in 2006 by the late Frank Frumar of Cudjoe Key, Florida and St Louis, Missouri.

Calliostoma hendersoni, from off Key West, Florida. Illustration: James F. Kelly.

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