Cancellaria cooperii, common name Cooper's nutmeg, is a species of medium-sized to large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cancellariidae, the nutmeg snails.
Description
This species attains a size of around 95 mm. Ecology Life habits This species is an ectoparasite that parasitizes the Pacific electric ray, Torpedo californica, and perhaps other benthic fishes.J. B. O'Sullivan, R. R. McConnaughey, and M. E. Huber, A Blood-Sucking Snail: The Cooper's Nutmeg, Cancellaria cooperii Gabb, Parasitizes the California Electric Ray, Torpedo californica Ayres (1987), Biol. Bull. 172: 362–366 Cooper's nutmeg is uncommonly found, offshore, on sandy substrate.
Known from depths 20 metres to 210 metres(prawn traps).
Distribution This nutmeg snail occurs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean from Monterey, California, to San Benito Island, in central Baja California, Mexico.
References
Link to Biol. Bull. article
External links McLean, James H., 1978, Marine Shells of Southern California, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Museum, Science Series 24, Revised Edition, p 51.