Periostracum

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Stenotrema florida, a terrestrial gastropod whose periostracum is developed into minute hairs, giving the snail a velvety look.
Stenotrema florida, a terrestrial gastropod whose periostracum is developed into minute hairs, giving the snail a velvety look.

The periostracum is a thin organic coating or "skin" which is the outermost layer of the shell of many mollusks, for example the shells of many bivalves or gastropods.

The periostracum "is composed of a type of conchin [or conchiolin] (largely quinone-tanned proteins) similar to that found in the epidermal cuticle."[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brusca, R.C. & G.J. Brusca 1990. Invertebrates. Sinauer Assoc., Inc, Sunderland, Massachusetts. p. 716.


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