Shell of the Week: The Imbricate Caecum

Continuing with the local species of the family Caecidae, today I present the Imbricate Caecum, Caecum imbricatum Carpenter, 1858. The small, curved, tube-like shell in this species reaches only about 3 mm (0.12 inch). The shell has a sculpture about 30 low “rings”, with strongly etched lengthwise lines present on entire shell. The apical plug or mucro, opposite the aperture (shell opening), is dome-pointed; shell color is white. The image on the bottom was taken with a high-resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The method provides a high-resolution image, but the color is lost in the process.

The Imbricate Caecum, Caecum imbricatum, from Sanibel.

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