Biodiversity & Conservation

A brachiopod - Neocrania anomala

Neocrania anomala

Image Keith Hiscock - Neocrania anomala Image width ca 12 cm.
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Distribution map

Neocrania anomala recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Neocrania anomala is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Brachiopoda Lamp shells
Class Craniata
Authority Muller, 1776
Recent synonyms Crania anomala
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland From the Firth of Clyde up the west coast of Scotland including the Hebrides, Shetland, the south coast of England and the Isle of Man. In Ireland along the south coast, the north-west and the north-east.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Typically inhabits rocky current-swept bottoms in moderately shallow water. The species is not very tolerant of wave exposure and so is found in deep water or in sheltered fjordic sea lochs.
Text page icon Description Brachiopods are bivalved animals unrelated to molluscs. Neocrania anomala looks rather like a limpet with a low conical shell or valve attached to a hard surface. The shell is oval in vertical view and up to 15 mm long. The other valve is cemented to the surface beneath the animal. The shell surface is smooth and has fine concentric lines. Shell colour is pale grey, yellow or white and is overlaid with a thin brown periostracum.
Identifying features
  • Ventral valve is cemented to substratum.
  • Dorsal valve conical with the apex posterior to the midpoint.
  • Valves lack articulation.
  • There is no pedicle.
  • Calcium carbonate based shell.
Additional information icon Additional information Unusually for the inarticulate brachiopods, the shell contains calcium carbonate. In brachiopods the valves of the shell are dorso-ventral whereas in molluscs the valves are lateral.

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This review can be cited as follows:

Angus Jackson 2000. Neocrania anomala. A brachiopod. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 03/09/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3879>