Oocorys clericus resembles O. sulcata in general appearance, apart from its rather larger size and its markedly taller and narrower shape than all specimens of 0. sulcata. The exterior sculpture is of very simple, even, smooth, prominent, flat-topped, widely spaced, very regularly arranged spiral cords, similar to but a little coarser than those of Eucorys bartschi. The anterior end is produced into a slight anterior canal, a little more obvious than that of O. sulcata, although shorter than that of Eucorys species. A narrow, smooth subsutural band, or collar, is not otherwise distinguished from the rest of the shell surface, e.g., not strongly concave, as in Eucorys. A unique character is the outer lip, which is not reflected at all externally, but bears a prominent, thick, smooth internal callus ridge of semicircular cross-section.
Quinn (1980) proposed Oocorys clericus as a subspecies of Eucorys bartschi, although he realised they might prove to be distinct species. Eucorys bartschi is much larger than O. clericus (up to more than 130 mm high, compared with up to 92 mm, and most specimens around 60-70 mm, in O. clericus), and E. bartschi has a rather thin but strongly reflected, transversely ribbed outer lip and a polished exterior, which give it more the appearance of the tonnid genus Eudolium than of Oocorys species. Oocorys clericus has a chalky white exterior (on the specimen examined, and in Quinn's (1980: fig. 7) illustration of the holotype), and resembles tall specimens of Oocorys sulcata much more closely than it does E. bartschi. The most important distinction between these species, though, is in the protoconch. Presumably the cancellate, multiwhorled protoconch illustrated as that of E. bartschi by Waren & Bouchet (1990: fig. 119) actually is that of O. clericus, as that of E. bartschi is very small, smooth and paucispiral, as in Galeodea .
RADULA. — The radula is standard for Oocorys, with triangular basal extremities on the basal plate of the central teeth, and with 4-7 denticles on each side of the main cusp of each central tooth, and 5-7 denticles outside the main cusp of each lateral tooth (8-9 on the specimen studied by Quinn 1980). The radula studied here also has one unusually long denticle on the inner edge of each inner marginal tooth, the largest on any Oocorys species I have examined. The radula of E. bartschi is similar to that of O. clericus, but has slightly more antero-posteriorly elongate (i.e., more strongly triangular) cutting heads on the central and lateral teeth, more numerous and longer denticles on both these teeth (8-9 on centrals and 8-10 on laterals), a smaller denticle on the inner edge of each inner marginal tooth, and a small denticle on the inner edge of each lateral tooth that I have not observed in O. clericus. The basal plate of the central teeth also is much lower and wider than in all other radulae examined in this work. It is clear that these are distinct species, here considered to belong in different genera.
DIMENSIONS. - Holotype: H 69.3, D 43.4 mm; MNHN specimen, LGL Cruise 3.MMS.C3: H 58.3 (spire apex incom¬plete), D 39.2 mm; Quinn (1980: 156) recorded specimens up to 91.9 mm high.

TYPE MATERIAL. - Holotype, USNM 751953, from Oregon stn 3601, off Santa Catalina, Atlantic coast of Panama, 731 m, 9°07'N, 81° 10'W; 4 paratypes from Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas, in 732-1554 m, in UMML; 21 paratypes from the southwestern Caribbean Sea, from off Santa Marta, Colombia, westwards to Golfo de los Mosquitos, Panama, in 329-548 m, in UMML (Quinn 1980: 156). OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. - Gulf of Mexico. LGL Cruise 3.MMS.C3, 764-841 m, 27°49'N, 90°08'W (1 lv; Figs 22E, F).
DISTRIBUTION. — Oocorys clericus is recorded from off the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.