Grazer and detritus feeder in the infralittoral.
Original taxon: Rissoa tenera.
« Shell minute, ovate-conical; whorls poorly convex, transversely belted; belts 3 on upper whorls, 9-10 on the ultimate; interspaces finely striated longitudinally; aperture ovate, simple. » – R. A. Philippi: Enumeratio molluscorum Siciliae part II, Berlin 1844, p.128.
Above and below: shallow water grit, Levante Beach, Benidorm, Alicante, Comunitat Valenciana, S. Spain. 1,9mm.
The shell is close to that of A. carinata but more conical, with less numerous spiral cords; last whorl less globose, and smaller; the radial sculpture is thinner, giving the shell a less cancellate appearance. The pattern, made up of longitudinal stripes of a fawny colour, is also a feature that is never encountered in carinata, which has always a pure white shell.
Protoconch translucent and smooth. The radial striae appear from the very beginning of the teleoconch, and are more marked between the adapical spiral cords than elsewhere.
