The columella or pillar is a central anatomical feature of a coiled snail shell, a gastropod shell. The columella is often only clearly visible as a structure when the shell is broken, sliced in half
An X-ray image of a shell of a marine Triton snail (Charonia), showing the slightly sinuous line of the central columella, reaching from the top of the image (the apex of the shell) to the bottom (the siphonal canal)
Two views of a shell of Scaphella lamberti, and in the center, a cut-down shell showing the folds on the columella