Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Cypraeidae Scientific name Erosaria erosa | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Cypraeoidea Genus Erosaria Rank Species | |
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Similar Erosaria, Erosaria helvola, Lyncina carneola, Lyncina lynx, Mauritia arabica | ||
Erosaria erosa, common name the gnawed or eroded cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Contents
Description
The shell of these quite common cowries reaches on average 32–38 millimetres (1.3–1.5 in) in length, with a maximum size of 75 millimetres (3.0 in) and a minimum adult size of 15 millimetres (0.59 in). The dorsum is yellow-ocher or pale brown, with many small white spots. The extremities of the shell show dark brown spots. A dark brown area which is roughly rectangular is present on each side close to the edge. The base is white to light beige, with thin transverse stripes.
At night in the living cowries, the extremely papillose brownish mantle usually covers the shell completely, camouflaging the animal.
Distribution
This species and its subspecies occur in the Indian Ocean along the coasts of Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, the East Coast of South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania, as well in the Western Pacific Ocean (Malaysia, Australia, Philippines, Polynesia and Hawaii).
Habitat
These cowries live in warm tropical waters, on shallow intertidal reefs or in lagoons at about 2–10 metres (6 ft 7 in–32 ft 10 in) of depth. Like most other cowries, during the day they usually hide under rocks slabs with the mantle drawn into the shell. They feed only at dawn or dusk.
Subspecies
There are three subspecies recognized :