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Balanetta baylii (Jousseaume, 1875)

Diagnosis: Shell small to medium, white, cylindrical; spire immersed; lip thickened, smooth; external varix present; siphonal notch absent; posterior notch absent; columella with three plaits occupying lower quarter of aperture.

Size: Adults 5 – 14.5 mm in length.

Distribution: Australian Museum Collection: Capricorn Channel, Queensland , to Dongara, south-western WA.  Recorded from 11-263 metres, rarely as a beach shell.

Comparison: More slender than Ovaginella ovulum, with only three plaits on the columella.

Synonymy: In Australian literature this species has been known as Marginella whani (Pritchard & Gatliff, 1900) (Hewish in Wilson, 1994).

Fig. 1: Off Sow and Pigs Reef, Sydney Harbour (C.314955).  This is a specimen from the lot figured by Laseron (1948, fig. 38) as Marginella whani (Pritchard & Gatliff, 1900).