Shell · Genus
Turritella
Tower shells (living)
Turritella are the living tower shells, slender and many-whorled with spiral ribs, filter-feeders that live half-buried in sand. Modern shells are cheap; the genus is more familiar to collectors from its fossils, including the Green River 'turritella agate' (actually Elimia) and Cretaceous and Eocene beds. See the fossil taxon article for those.
| Habitat | Soft bottoms, shallow to shelf, worldwide |
|---|---|
| Regions | Indo-Pacific, Eastern Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean |
| Family | Turritellidae |
| Authority (WoRMS) | Lamarck, 1799· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
| Status (WoRMS) | accepted· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
| Extinct (WoRMS) | no· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
| Classification (WoRMS) | Animalia › Mollusca › Gastropoda › Caenogastropoda incertae sedis › Turritellidae· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
CITES and protection
Not CITES-listed.
Care (Byne's disease)
Stable.
Elsewhere
- WoRMS AphiaID: 138615
- Wikidata: Q76879
- WoRMS / MolluscaBase record
- Wikipedia: Turritella
- CITES Appendices
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "Turritella" (Shell family). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/shells/turritella. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-turritella,
title = {Turritella},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/shells/turritella}},
year = {2026},
note = {Shell family article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, worms, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.