A most delicate lamellate sculpture combined with an elegant and slender form makes the “Rugose Wentletrap” one of the most beautiful and sought-after of all epitoniids. Although rather widely distributed in the western Pacific ranging from central Japan to Tonga to the Philippines, vast majority of specimens originate from either Japan or the Philippines. A carnivorous gastropod inhabiting sandy to muddy bottoms of rather deep water ranging from about -100~400m, it lives by sucking the body fluids of sea anemone. The characteristic shell sculpture consists of about 20 strong fimbriate axial ribs per whorl and numerous weak spiral ribs running across the shell surface. Each axial rib carry a blunt protrusion pointing posteriorly, but this is often worn out in rough specimens. There are some minor differences between specimens from Japan and the Philippines. Firstly, those from Japan often have one or two conspicuously more strongly thickened than usual varix per whorl, not often seen in specimens from the Philippines. Secondly, specimens from Japan tend to be thicker than those from the Philippines; they are also usually more worn but this is mostly due to the collection by rough trawling as opposed to tangle netting. Although the average shell length is around 60mm, it is very variable in shell length with the largest specimens exceeding 110mm. Specimens of small to average size are only uncommon, anything over 80mm is rare and very rare if in good condition as the early whorls are usually eroded away. “Shell doctors” in the Philippines routinely repair eroded apex of large specimens by gluing apex taken from smaller specimens, collectors must therefore be very aware and carefully examine the apex when dealing with large specimens. Often confused with the congener Cirsotrema edgari (de Boury, 1912), which is indeed similar in that it also carry many blade-like varices, but can be easily distinguished from C. rugosum as its varices are strongly wavy (as opposed to straight in C. rugosum). – from Chong Chen’s post.

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