Header Image
Epitoniidae Berry, 1910 (1812)

Janthina globosa

Swainson, 1822

Description:

Dimensions range from 12 mm - 38.5 mm high and 10 mm wide.
Width to height ratio: 0.83:1 ~ 0.26:1

Shell: globose; lightweight; small to moderately small. Exterior colour reddish to dark violet or purple, with diffuse, narrow pale violet band below suture, base or upper whorls sometimes a bit darker. About 4 whorls, rounded, often slightly shouldered . Suture narrowly canalised. Umbilicate: closed, or very narrow, partially covered by a thin columellar callus. Intercostal spaces sculptured by weak, irregular V-shaped growth lines. Base slightly convex with a few weak spiral lines. Columella slightly bent, smooth. Aperture oval, longer than broad,more than half of shell length, extended anteriorly in some specimens; outer lip thin, indented in the centre.


Distribution:

World-wide, in tropical and temperate seas; Cocos Keeling Islands [Maes, 1967:117]; available Australian specimens range from southern Queensland southwards to Bermagui, NSW [Beechey, 2008]; Northern Territoory, Qld, NSW, Tasmania, New Zealand, Hokkaido to Honshu Japan [Beu, 2017: 184]; entire Gulf of Mexico, North Carolina to Brazil [Rosenberg et al., 2009:643]


Habitat:

Pelagic, found washed up on beaches


Etymology:

from globosus [latin] = spherical or globular


Type Material:

none mentioned in source material for Janthina globosa Swainson, 1822. []


SpeciesImage

Swainson, W. (1822). Plate 85. Fig. 2.

Distribution

as listed in source literature

Blainville, H. M. D. de (1822).
Shown in text as Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822
Species Image
pp: 155.
original description Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822
Swainson, W. (1822).
Species Image
Plate 85. Fig. 2.
Species Image
Plate 85. Fig. 3.
Species Image
pp: 16.
Original description
Orbigny, A. D. d' (1841).
Shown in text as Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822
Species Image
pp: 414.
Reeve, L. A. (1858).
Shown in text as Ianthina decollata P. P. Carpenter, 1857
Species Image
Plate IV. Fig. 19a.
Species Image
Plate IV. Fig. 19b.
Species Image
Shell globose, with a short, slightly immersed spire; whorls impressed at the sutures, then rounded, finely decussately striated throughout; whitish, purplish-violet at the spire and base; columella slightly reflexed, pressed against the upper part, then prolonged; aperture somewhat broad, slightly sinuate in the middle, with a channel at the base.
Reeve, L. A. (1858).
Species Image
Plate IV. Fig. 18b.
Species Image
Plate IV. Fig. 18a.
Species Image
Shell globose, thin, inflated, with a short, slightly immersed spire; whorls impressed at the sutures, then rounded, finely decussately striated throughout; whitish, purplish-violet at the spire and base; columella slightly reflexed, elongated; aperture broad, open, slightly sinuate in the middle, with a channel at the base.
Reeve, L. A. (1858).
Shown in text as Ianthina iricolor Reeve, 1858
Species Image
Plate V. Fig. 23b.
Species Image
Plate V. Fig. 23a.
Species Image
Shell somewhat globose, very thin, with an obtusely conical spire, more or less immersed; whorls rather narrow, rounded, concentrically and irregularly plicate-striate, with the striae sinuated at mid-whorl; purplish-violet, translucent and iridescent; columella scarcely reflexed, somewhat twisted; aperture wide open, with the base somewhat channeled.
Tryon, G.W. (1887).
Species Image
Plate 10. Fig. 11.
Species Image
Plate 10. Fig. 12.
Species Image
pp: 37.
Note: in the text, listed as a synonym of Var. pallida, figure 16 Ianthina striolata A. Adams & Reeve, 1850 is now recognised as Janthina pallida W. Thompson, 1840. See Janthina pallida W. Thompson, 1840 for details
Beechey, D. (2008).
Shown in text as Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822
Species Image
pp: Janthina prolonga. Fig. 1.
South coast of NSW (DLB4296)
Species Image
pp: Janthina prolonga. Fig. 2.
South coast of NSW (DLB4296)
Beu, A. G. (2017).
Species Image
pp: 123. Plate 2. Fig. G.
Janthina globosa (Swainson); G, GNS WM15254, beach, Mauritius, Indian Ocean;
Species Image
pp: 123. Plate 2. Fig. H-I.
Janthina globosa (Swainson); H
Species Image
pp: 123. Plate 2. Fig. J.
Janthina globosa (Swainson); H
Alf, A., Brenzinger, B., Haszprunar, G., Schrödl, M. & Schwabe, E. (2020).
Species Image
Plate 87.

Synonymy:

Ianthina decollata P. P. Carpenter, 1857 [in Reeve, L. A., 1858].
Ianthina iricolor Reeve, 1858 [in Reeve, L. A., 1858].
Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822 [in Barnard, K. H. , 1963].
Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822 [in Beechey, D., 2008].
Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822 [in Blainville, H. M. D. de, 1822].
Janthina prolongata Blainville, 1822 [in Orbigny, A. D. d', 1841].


Source Literature:

Alf, A., Brenzinger, B., Haszprunar, G., Schrödl, M. & Schwabe, E. (2020). A Guide to Marine Molluscs of Europe. Conch Books. Conch Books
Barnard, K. H. (1963). Contributions to the knowledge of South African marine Mollusca. Part III. Gastropoda: Prosobranchiata: Taenioglossa. Annals of the South African Museum.. 47(1). http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40854388 [Accessed 26 December 2025]
Beechey, D. (2008). Shells NSW -Janthina_prolonga. https://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Janthinidae/Pages/Janthina_prolonga.htm [Accessed 10 May 2023]
Beu, A. G. (2017). Evolution of Janthina and Recluzia. Records of the Australian Museum. 69(3). The Australian Museum. 10.3853/j.2201-4349.69.2017.1666 [Accessed 6 December 2023]
Blainville, H. M. D. de (1822). Janthine, Janthina.. Dictonnaire des Sciences Naturelles (F. Cuvier,). 24. Levrault, Strasbourg & Le Normant, Paris.. http://books.google.fr/books?id=d5M5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA148 [Accessed 30 May 2025]
Maes, V. O. (1967). The Littoral Marine Mollusks of Cocos-Keeling Islands (Indian Ocean). Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 119. Academy of Natural Sciences. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4064613 [Accessed 25 October 2025]
Orbigny, A. D. d' (1841). Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale. Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale. 5(3). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49211253 [Accessed 17 March 2025]
Reeve, L. A. (1858). Monograph of the genus Ianthina. In: Conchologia Iconica, or, illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals. 11. L. Reeve & Co., London.. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8183142 [details] [Accessed 12 July 2025]
Rios, E.C. (1985). Seashells of Brazil. Fundação Universidade do Rio Grande.
Rosenberg, G., Moretzsohn, F. & García, E. (2009). Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf of Mexico: Its Origins, Waters, and Biota.Vol 1: Biodiversity. D. L. Felder & D. K. Camp, eds,. Texas A & M University Press
Swainson, W. (1822). Zoological Illustrations, or, original figures and descriptions of new, rare, or interesting animals, selected chiefly from the classes of ornithology, entomology, and conchology, and arranged on the principles of Cuvier and other modern zoologists.. Zoological Illustrations, or, original figures and descriptions of new, rare, or interesting animals. 2. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; and W. Wood. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/92614 [Accessed 20 March 2025]
Tryon, G.W. (1887). Manual of conchology, structural and systematic with illustrations of the species. IX. Academy of Natural Sciences. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11026889 [Accessed 20 September 2025]
WoRMS Editorial Board (2025). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org [Accessed 8 November 2025]

WoRMS direct page link: Open WoRMS record