Examples: Gastropods
Tiger Maurea (top shape, [2, p. 35])
[alpha=84.9, beta=7, phi=-36, mu=1, Omega=-2, A=47, a=40, b=19, L=0]
(Click with the mouse over the picture to rotate it)
adding ridges
Commercial Trochus (top shape, [2, p. 38])
[alpha=87, beta=15, phi=-45, mu=5, Omega=1, A=95, a=20, b=20, L=20, W[1]=.5, W[2]=3, P=10, N=8]
(Click with the mouse over the picture to rotate it)
The top shape shells belong to the family of
Trochidae, that includes hundreds of species distributed worldwide.
The tiger maurea is a thin but strongly built shell with a large body whorl and steeply sloping spire, ending with
a sharply pointed apex. Pigments
often are present only on the exterior and do not permeate the entire shell fabric.
Habitat: Intertidal rocks, New Zealand.
The commercial trochus, the largest and heaviest of the top shells, is almost an equilateral triangle in profile.
Once used to provide the material for buttons, this is the reason for its name.
Habitat: very common is the tropical Indo-Pacific region,
near coral reefs.
[2] S. Peter Dance, Shells, Dorling Kindersley, 2002.
