| Lyncina lynx | |
|---|---|
| Lyncina lynx | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Littorinimorpha |
| Superfamily: | Cypraeoidea |
| Family: | Cypraeidae |
| Genus: | Lyncina |
| Species: | L. lynx |
| Binomial name | |
| Lyncina lynx (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Lyncina lynx, common name : the Lynx Cowry or Eyed cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]
Contents |
Lyncina lynx is quite common. The shells of these cowries are very variabile in pattern and size. They reach on average 38–50 millimetres (1.5–2.0 in) of length, with a minimum size of 18 millimetres (0.71 in) and a maximum size of 90 millimetres (3.5 in). The dorsum surface of these smooth and shiny shells is generally pale brown, pale purple or grey, densely covered with small and large dark brown or purple dots. The large spots are extended to the edges. The base is white or pale brown. The aperture is long and narrow, with several white teeth and a bright reddish spacing. In the living cowries the mantle is trasparent, with tree-shaped white sensorial papillae and may cover the entire shell.
This species is distributed in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean along South-East Africa (Aldabra, Chagos, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin , Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles, Zanzibar and Tanzania) and in western Pacific Ocean (Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, western and northern Australia, Polynesia and Hawaii).
They live in tropical shallow water, subtidal and intertidal, usually under rocks or corals up to about 10 metres (33 ft)of depth. As they fear the light, they start feeding at dusk mainly on sponges.