Sarasabatera (Sarasa horseshoe cone) - Sarasabatera (English spelling) button top

Japanese: サラサバテイラ(更紗馬蹄螺) - サラサバテイラ（英語表記）button top

A large snail shell of the family Muscidae (illustration). The shell can reach a height of 10 cm, a width of 12.5 cm, and has 10 coils. It is cone-shaped with corners around it, but when fully grown, the edges thicken and swell and spread out. The surface has a chintz pattern with lightning-like vertical bands of reddish purple, or green and yellowish white. The shell opening faces downward, and the inside has a strong pearlescent luster. The lid is round, leathery, and translucent. It is widely distributed in the Pacific Ocean south of the Amami Islands, and lives on rocky reefs below the intertidal zone. It is called Takasegai (high-rise shell), and the shell surface can be dissolved to reveal only the mother-of-pearl layer, which can be used as material for shell crafts, and in the past it was cut into round shapes to make shell buttons.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

ニシキウズガイ科の大型巻貝（イラスト）。殻の高さ10cm，太さ12.5cmに達し，巻きは10階。円錐形でまわりに角があるが，十分成長すると周縁が厚くなって膨らみ広がる。表面は紅紫色，または緑色と黄白色の縦帯が電光状に走り更紗模様となる。殻口は下向きで，内面は強い真珠光沢がある。ふたは丸くて革色で半透明。奄美諸島以南の太平洋海域に広く分布し，潮間帯下の岩礁にすむ。商品名をタカセガイ(高瀬貝)といい，殻は表面を溶かして真珠層のみにして貝細工の材料にし，また，かつては丸く切り抜いて貝ボタンをつくった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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