Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Opalia spongiosa
espiral esponjoso, Snail
Height: 7 to 12.5 mm; diameter: 2.5 to 5 mm.
Shallow water (less than 200 m depth), subtidal.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Mollusca
Class
Gastropoda
Order
[unassigned] Caenogastropoda
Superfamily
Epitonioidea
Family
Epitoniidae
Genus
Opalia
Species
spongiosa
Taxon category: Accepted
LACM: AHF-400, AHF-402, AHF 157-34, AHF 173-34, AHF-MS-483; Syn.: Nodiscala spongiosa (Carpenter, 1866), Opalia retiporosa (Carpenter, 1866), Scalaria retiporosa Carpenter, 1866, fide Appeltans et al.(2010)
Origin: Native
Distribution: From Mexico (Monterrey),to south of gulf of California and Ecuador (Galapagos Islands)
- Appeltans, W. Bouchet, P., Boxshall, G.A., Fauchald, K., Gordon, D.P., Hoeksema, B.W., Poore, G.C.B., van Soest, R.W.M., Stöhr, S., Walter, T.C., Costello, M.J. (eds.) (2010) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org.
- Finet, Y. (1991) The Marine Mollusks of the Galapagos Islands. In: Galápagos Marine Invertebrate. Taxonomy, Biogeography, and Evolution in Darwin's Islands. Plenum Press. New York and London, p. 253-280.
- Finet, Y. (2001) The marine mollusks of the Galapagos Islands: a documented faunal list. Editions du Muséum d' Histoire naturelle, Genève, 237 pp.
- Hickman, C.P. Jr. Finet, Y. (1999) A Field Guide to the Marine Molluscs of Galápagos. Sugar Spring Press, Lexington, Virginia, 150 pp.
- Keen, A.M. (1958) Sea Shells of Tropical West America. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 1st edition, 624 pp.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Opalia spongiosa", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=8687. Accessed 30 October 2026.