Archaeogastropod limpets retaining some degree of coiling, with a few smooth ridges on first half of protoconch; teleoconch with shelf-like septum and about a dozen spirally arranged rows of pores, each leading to an external tubercle. Tubercles surrounded by tufts of tubes of unknown function. Head large, inflated, with short, simple, conical tentacles without sensory papillae; no neck-lobes or cephalic lappets; snout distally broader with ventral mouth. Foot simple, ovate, laterally and posteriorly finely setose. Propodium demarcated from mesopodium by a slit-shaped pocket. Epipodium, a large skin-fold from base of neck, surrounding the whole foot, richly setose. A single short, wartlike epipodial teptacle on edge of fold, halfway along side of foot; a pair of similar (epipodial?) tentacles on each side of posterior extremity of foot, ventral to epipodial fold. Pallial edge with 1 dorsal and 1 ventral furrow, each 0.05-0.1 mm behind edge, no papillae. Pallial cavity deep and spacious; posterior right part of roof invaded by reproductive and digestive organs. Ctenidium large, bipectinate; attached dorsally (afferent membrane) along posterior one-fifth of axis, ventrally (efferent membrane) along posterior four-fifths. Efferent membrane thick and reaching close to pallial margin. Filaments with skeletal rod. Shell muscle horseshoe-shaped, anteriorly quite broad, posteriorly very narrow; left limb longer and more slender; right one shorter and broader. Testis situated at right side, close to right shell muscle, consisting of dichotomously branched tubuli, posteriorly joining to a large vas deferens, dorsally surrounding testis. No male copulatory organ or sperm groove. Ovary situated dorsally, between centreline of body and right shell muscle. Oviduct exiting anteriorly, making a loop to the left and backwards, turning 180° and paralleling the rectum anteriorly, to open shortly posterior and to the right of the anus. Radula n — 4 — 1 — 4 — n. Central tooth sturdy, with broad anterolateral supporting ridges and weakly ser-rated cutting edge. Innermost lateral similar to central tooth, more lateral ones gradually more similar to flat and broad, apically obliquely truncate and serrate marginals. Jaws well developed with numerous prismatic elements. Operculum absent.

This is an aberrant animal and certainly worth a more detailed anatomical investigation than we have had the occasion to do. All the setose areas on the sides of the foot and the epipodium are covered by white dust, largely consisting of sulphur (confirmed by EDAX analyses).
The strange tubular processes (these were also covered by sulphur) on the back of the shell were not investigated in any detail, but it could be seen that they are hollow, and are attached along the row of tubercles of the shell. In large specimens, the posterior part of the visceral mass, from the level of the posterior edge of the foot and backward, carries external rows of small 'warts' corresponding to the pores in the shell. We find it likely, although not proven, that the setae of the epipodium and the sides of the foot, as well as the tubular processes are involved in some kind of symbioses with chemosynthetic organisms, processing sulphides.
The systematic position of Ctenopelta is not obvious; the distally broader snout differs from that of the peltospirids, as does the poorly developed periostracum. The radula resembles that of several groups of species from vents and seeps, for example Trochidae (Bathymargarites), Peltospiridae, and Neomphalidae, and is not diagnostic. The larval shell resembles that of certain peltospirids (Nodopelta, Lirapex) and skeneids (Protolira), but it is uncertain to what extent this character can be used. The teleoconch is of a general archaeogastropod limpet type, exemplified among peltospirids, trochids (Stomatellinae), neritoids (Phenacolepadidae) and fissurellids and is a normal type when limpet shape is evolved. We place this species tentatively in the Peltospiridae, a natural place to search for species with this shell morphology.