Janthina exigua Lamarck, 1816
Worldwide warm seas. Pleustonic floating predator, sometimes attached to the Hydrozoa which it feeds on, more often found on the underside of a bubble-raft it secretes. Abundant in S. Australia and New Zealand, rare in the northern Pacific, uncommon in the northern Atlantic, rare in Mediterranean.
Synonyms: bifida, capreolata, courcellei, incisa, nana…
 
The species differs from the other members of the genus by it small size, its tall spire, its conspicuous fine striae, and its deep labial sinus. It is with exigua that it becomes obvious that the Janthinas belong to the family Epitoniidae.

Beachstormed, Corfu, Ionian Islands, SE. Adriatic. 8,3mm.
The species in Du Y.:
Dong science dictionary, Shanghai 1922, p.1000.
A specimen under its eggs, washed ashore on the southwestern coast of Te Koroway-o-Te-Tonga Peninsula, north of Auckland, North Island, New Zealand. Original pictures provided by beaumasters for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
Maintenance of raft and eggs.
Maukatia Bay, Muriwai, west of Auckland. Original picture provided by predomalpha for iNaturalist – (CC BY).
Often, a good drawing says more than anything else. Original image created by J. Higueras Gimenez (ES).
– (CC BY-NC-ND) –

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