Home Acknowledgments Conventions Glossary Maps References Links Articles Thumbnails Species list Family Next species _______________   Additional Photos   live animal   apex   defensive fluid	Volvatella vigourouxi (Montrouzier, 1861)   Maximum size:  6.5 mm shell length (Terry Gosliner, pers. com.). Identification:  This species has a thin, largely transparent shell that narrows into a spout posteriorly and has a medial constriction that varies in prominence. The animal is light orange, flecked with darker orange and grayish white (the latter in spiral bands below the apex). Natural history:  The few known specimens of Volvatella vigourouxi have been found in shallow water on Caulerpa sp. Like Volvatella ventricosa, it releases a milky fluid when disturbed, presumably for defensive purposes. (Note 1) Distribution:  Oahu: widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific. Taxonomic notes:  This may be the animal listed in Kay, 1979 and Kay & Schoenberg-Dole, 1991 as Volvatella pyriformis. Details of color and form appear to be a good match for the original description of that species. If so, it was first reported from Hawaii in Pease, 1868. Photo:  Terry Gosliner: narcotized: Oahu. Observations and comments: Note 1:  Thomas Irvine stated that his animal "was initially found burrowing into some algae in a tidepool, but when I pulled it out it began spewing white stuff (ink? viscera?) before crawling away and burrowing back into some algae."
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