Polystira tellea (Dall, 1889) is one of a large number of species in the genus Polystira (family Turridae). Todd and Rawlings (2014)* in their detailed taxonomic account of the genus examined at least 14 species of Polystira from the western Atlantic. These authors indicated that Polystira species can be distinguished from each other genetically and by the distribution of the spiral cords that decorate their shells. Polystira tellea can grow to at least 90 mm (approximately 3.5 inches) and is found from North Carolina to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean south to Colombia and Venezuela. Donna and Riley Black dredged the specimen in the photo (BMSM 87392) off Fort Myers, Florida.
*Todd, J. and T. A. Rawlings. 2014. A review of the Polystira clade—the Neotropics’s largest marine gastropod radiation (Neogastropoda: Conoidea: Turridae sensu stricto). Zootaxa 3884(5): 445-491. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3884.5.5
