Flamingo tongue snail
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| Flamingo tongue snail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cyphoma gibbosum Linnaeus, 1758 |
The flamingo tongue snail, Latin name Cyphoma gibbosum, is a species of small but brightly colored sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the cowry allies.
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[edit] Distribution
This Cyphoma is one of three species in the genus which live in the tropical waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean Sea.
[edit] Habitat
This sea snail is found living on various species of soft corals and sea fans.
[edit] Life habits
The flamingo tongue feeds by browsing on the living tissues of the sea fans on which it lives.
[edit] Shell description
The shell of this species is plain white, sometimes with a yellow tinge at the margins. It is about one inch (25 mm) long, and vaguely resembles the shell of a cowry.
[edit] Description of the live animal
When it is alive, the snail appears bright orange-yellow in color with black markings. However, these colors are not in the shell, but are only due to the thin flaps of live mantle tissue which usually cover the shell. The mantle flaps can be retracted, exposing the shell, but this usually happens only when the animal is attacked.
[edit] Survival status
This species used to be very common indeed, but it has become rather uncommon because of over-collecting by snorkelers and scuba divers, who make the mistake of thinking that the color is in the shell of the animal.
[edit] References
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