Calliostoma laugieri (Payraudeau, 1826)
Cantabrian Sea to Mediterranean. Shallow water, under stones, to lower infralittoral on rocky bottoms. Predator on sessile preys. Original taxon: Trochus laugieri.
30m deep, Málaga, Andalucia, S. Spain. 14mm.
Synonyms: hyacinthinus, seriopunctatus, violaceus
Variant “viola”. 2m deep, Cagliari gulf, S. Sardinia.
Original pictures provided by A. Nappo (IT).
(CC BY-NC-SA)
Another purple specimen from bay of Tamariù, north of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Girona, Catalunya, NE. Spain. Original picture provided by josepvilanova for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
« Colour variable, sometimes yellowish, bluish, sometimes adorned with little white markings on the bead that ends each whorl; the most usually of a brown olivaceous with longitudinal zig-zag flame-shaped aquamarina blotches. Dedicated to M. Laugier, lecturer at the Jardin du Roy. » – B. C. Payraudeau: Catalogue descriptif et méthodique des annelides et des mollusques de l’île de Corse, Paris 1826, via BHL.

Variants dilatata, fulva, marmorata, olivaeconcolor…
5m deep, Koromacno, Croatia. 7mm.
Shallow water, on rock, Port Leucate, Aude, Occitania, S. France. Original picture provided by A. Bertrand (FR).
(CC BY-NC-SA)
30m deep, under rocks, Savona, Liguria, NW. Italy. 10mm.
Trochus laugieri in Kiener & Fischer: Spécies général et iconographie des coquilles vivantes… vol. XII, Paris 1880, plate 49.
 
« Shell similar to T. dubius and T. conulus, but smaller, generally darker in color, the apical whorls not (or but slightly) granulate. The form is straightly conical ; apical whorl minute, smooth ; following whorls, to the number of three or less, granulate ; then there are several spirally grooved whorls, the lower ones either smooth or grooved. The supra-sutural fasciole is distinct, articulated ; base spirally grooved, sometimes smooth except around the axis. Whorls about 8. Color: (1) dark olive-green or olive-brown, unicolored or longitudinally clouded with brown and lineolate with bluish, (2) yellowish, clouded with brown or yellow, (3) uniform purple. Aperture sulcate or smooth inside. » – H. A. Pilsbry: Manual of conchology, ser.1 vol. XI, Philadelphia 1889.
High-spired specimen from 3-5m deep, among Posidonias, Messina, NE. Sicilia. 12,5mm.
Original pictures provided by A. Nappo (IT).
(CC BY-NC-SA)
Subadult specimens from Puerto de Mazarrón, Murcia, S. Spain. 8-9mm.
Shallow infralittoral of Murcia, S. Spain. 8,8mm.
Other synonyms: virescens and tornatum Renieri in Coen, 1933, for green adriatic and ionian specimens. Porto Cesareo, Lecce, Puglia, SE. Italy. 11-15mm.
15-20m deep, off Venezia, NE. Italy. 15mm.

— back to Calliostomatidae —