Columbella rustica (Linnaeus, 1758)
Azores and Madeira to Mediterranean & Black Sea, Red Sea (antilessepsian). Algarve to Gabon. Grazer in shallow water.
Original taxon: Voluta rustica.
1m, Anse de l’Arène, Cassis, Provence, S. France. 15-18mm.
Highly variable. Synonyms: procera, punctata, punctulata…
Under rocks in shallow water, Grand Harbour, Valletta, NE. Malta. 22mm.
On rocks at 5m, southern shore of Spinalonga, 800m east of Elounda channel, Kolpos Mirabellou, Lasithi, N. Crete. 15mm.
Shallow water, Calanque de Saména, Montredon, south of Marseille, Provence. Original picture provided by J. Renoult for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
Variant “elongata”, from Kerkennah island, Tunisia. 20-23mm.
The species has been used as ornament in the neolithic jewelry of S. France, Switzerland, Algeria, Tunisia, and was still in use as money around Tombouctou or Fabiguine Lake (Mali) in the XIXth century, with some other marginellas and cowries.
La Negra, Sant Joan de Palamós, Girona, Catalunya, SE. Spain. Original picture provided by V. de Mazancourt for iNaturalist.
– (CC BY-NC) –
Young specimen from Leucate, Occitania, S. France. 10mm. Original pictures provided by S. Clanzig (FR) – (CC BY-NC-SA). Notice how the radial microsculpture can vary along each whorl: prosocline on the first subsurtural cord, opisthocline on the last one (suprasutural), and cannot be either qualified as strictly orthocline between them. Height of each cord: 0,1mm.
The harmful effects of anoxy at Giorgino beach, Cagliari, S. Sardinia. Top : 1m deep – Bottom: 10m deep.
Another young specimen from Kepez, Çanakkale, SW. Marmara Region, NW. Turkey. 9,1mm.
1,5m deep, under a flat rock, Sant Antoni shore, Portlligat, north of Cadaqués, Alt Empordà, Girona, Catalunya, NE. Spain. 19-20mm.

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