Melanella chydaea is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Eulimidae. The species is one of many species known to exist within the genus, Melanella
Description The maximum recorded shell length is 3.8 mm.Welch J. J. (2010). "The “Island Rule” and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008776.
(Original description) The smallish shell is translucent and strong, and rather stumpy in form. It has a short, broadish, rounded base, a symmetrical spire, a small, bluntish, rounded tip, subconvex whorls, an impressed suture, an oblique, pear-shaped aperture, and a thickened lip. Its sculpture is very subtle: the whole surface is scored with faint, regular, microscopic longitudinal streaks.
The shell is translucent white and not very brilliant on the surface.
At the apex the first two or three whorls are a little depressed, the tip is flatly rounded, and the extreme tip hardly rises into view. The spire is conical and straight, with nearly symmetrical profiles. There are 7½ whorls, of regular increase, of which the body whorl alone is a little large; they are slightly convex, while the base is contracted, tumid, and slightly concave. The suture is distinct, being linearly impressed, and the aperture is short and pear-shaped. The outer lip is thickened by an external varix, yet it bears a fine, though blunt, edge, which retreats above and is very patulous in front; in the middle of the solitary specimen it is broken. The inner lip is thickened and concave, with a short, narrowed columella that is crossed in front by a Rissoina-like furrow.
Distribution This marine species occurs off Culebra Island, Puerto Rico.
Habitat Minimum recorded depth is 713 m. Maximum recorded depth is 713 m.
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