The family Batillariidae was traditionally placed in the Potamididae as a subfamily until Healy (1983) and Houbrick (1988), followed by affirmation from Ponder and Waren (1988), called for the establishment of a separate family and elevated the Batillariinae to the family Batillariidae. Notable features separating the batillariids from the potamidids are differences in sperm morphology, presence of lateral denticles on the basal plate of the central tooth, and the shape of the sperm gutters in the female batillariids (Healy and Wells 1998). Potamidids do not range into temperate regions, as do the batillariids. The batillariid shell is turreted and narrow, usually with axial and spiral sculpture in the form of ridges or nodules. The head-foot features a wide snout, a pair of cephalic tentacles with an eye positioned at the base of each, and a broad foot with a ciliated groove on its right side. The mantle edge is equipped with papillae. In the mantle cavity are a thin osphradium, a ctenidium with long filaments, a well-developed hypobranchial gland, and a renal organ. Each tooth row of the radula has a trapezoidal central tooth with a long cusp and smaller teeth on either side (Healy and Wells 1998). In Texas Batillariidae is represented by one species, Batillaria minima, whose size ranges from 12 to 18 mm.