Shell Description
The length of the slender, elongated (turreted or conical) shells varies between 0.5 mm and 3.5 cm, but most species in the family have shells which are smaller than 13 mm.
The texture of these shells is smooth or sculptured in various forms such as ribs and spirals. Their color is mostly white, cream or yellowish, sometimes with red or brown lines.
The shell of these snails has a blunt, heterostrophic (i.e. whorls appear to be coiled in the opposite direction to those of the teleoconch) protoconch, which is often pointed sideways or wrapped up. The teleoconch is dextrally coiled, but the larval shells are sinistral. This results in a sinistrally coiled protoconch.
The columella has usually one, but sometimes several, spiral folds. The aperture is closed by an operculum.
The operculum is ovoid and paucispiral, with the apex anterior, a thread-like arcuate ridge on the proximal side, the inner margin notched in harmony with the plaits of the pillar when prominent.
Read more about this topic: Pyramidellidae
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