| Cribrarula cribraria | |
|---|---|
| Cribrarula cribraria | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Littorinimorpha |
| Superfamily: | Cypraeoidea |
| Family: | Cypraeidae |
| Genus: | Cribrarula |
| Species: | C. cribraria |
| Binomial name | |
| Cribrarula cribraria (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Cribrarula cribraria, the 'Sieve/Tan and White Cowry', is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]
Contents |
The mantle of this cowry is translucent bright orange-red. Cribrarula cribraria is one of the most recognizible cowries. The shells reach 10–35 millimetres (0.39–1.4 in) of length. These shells are smoot, their basic coloration is pale brown or fawn, with several circular white spots. The edges of the shell is white, as well the flat base.
This species and its subspecies are distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Seychelles and Tanzania.
This species can be encountered in intertidal and shallow waters at 5–25 metres (16–82 ft) of depth, mainly underneath coral rubble and rocks. They mostly feed at night on encrusting sponges.
The following subspecies are recognized :[1]