Thyca crystallina

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Species of gastropod

title: "Thyca crystallina" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["eulimidae", "gastropods-described-in-1846"] description: "Species of gastropod" topic_path: "general/eulimidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyca_crystallina" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of gastropod ::

| image = Thyca crystallina 01.jpg | image_caption = Shell of T. crystallina | taxon = Thyca crystallina | authority = (Gould, 1846) | synonyms_ref = | synonyms =

  • Pileopsis crystallina Gould, 1846
  • Thyca (Bessomia) crystallina (Gould, 1846)
  • Thyca pellucida Kükenthal, 1897

Thyca crystallina is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Eulimidae. It is one of nine species within the genus Thyca, all of which are parasitic on starfish in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. This species was first described in 1846 by the American conchologist Augustus Addison Gould as Pileopsis crystallina but was later transferred to Thyca.

Description

The shell of T. crystallina is conical, transparent and slightly curved, and is sculptured with longitudinal grooves. The colour is variable and may be tan or bluish; the colouring does not necessarily resemble that of the host starfish.

Distribution

The species is located in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean, ranging from Madagascar to Hawaii.

Ecology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Linckia_laevigata_Tonga.jpg" caption="''[[Linckia laevigata]]'' in the Tonga archipelago"] ::

Thyca crystallina is an ectoparasite of a starfish, often the blue starfish Linckia laevigata or the multicolour Linckia multifora.

This mollusc is at an early stage of becoming parasitic and has relatively few modifications to adopt this lifestyle.

References

References

  1. Bouchet, Philippe. (2010). "''Thyca crystallina'' (Gould, 1846)".
  2. [https://archive.org/stream/manualconch08tryorich#page/n5/mode/2up G.W. Tryon (1886) Manual of Conchology v; VIII. Page 106]
  3. (1996). "Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific: Animal Life from Africa to Hawaii Exclusive of the Vertebrates". Sea Challengers.
  4. Elder, Hugh Y.. (1979). "Studies on the host parasite relationship between the parasitic prosobranch ''Thyca crystallina'' and the asteroid starfish ''Linckia laevigata''". Journal of Zoology.
  5. Combes, Claude. (2005). "The Art of Being a Parasite". University of Chicago Press.

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eulimidaegastropods-described-in-1846