Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Cypraeidae Scientific name Erosaria helvola | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Cypraeoidea Genus Erosaria Rank Species | |
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Similar Erosaria, Erosaria erosa, Lyncina carneola, Cribrarula cribraria, Luria isabella | ||
Erosaria helvola, common name : the honey cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Contents
A subspecies, Erosaria helvola argella (Melvill, 1888), has been described.
Description
These very common small shells reach on average 15–23 millimetres (0.59–0.91 in) of length, with a maximum size of 36 millimetres (1.4 in) and a minimum size of 8 millimetres (0.31 in). The basic color of the shell is orange-brown or beige, with many white dots on the top of the dorsum. The underside is orange-brown. In the living cowries the mantle is transparent, with short white papillae.
Distribution
This species is distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific, along the Red Sea, Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, the East Coast of South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Polynesia and Hawaii.
Habitat
Erosaria helvola lives in intertidal and shallow subtidal waters or in lagoons, usually hiding during the day under the rocks of the reef.