Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Cypraeidae Scientific name Mauritia scurra | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Cypraeoidea Subfamily Cypraeinae Rank Species | |
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Similar Mauritia, Mauritia histrio, Mauritia depressa, Lyncina lynx, Mauritia eglantina | ||
Mauritia scurra, common name the jester cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Contents
Description
The shells of these quite uncommon cowries reach on average 38–43 millimetres (1.5–1.7 in) of length, with a minimum size of 23 millimetres (0.91 in) and a maximum size of 57 millimetres (2.2 in). The shape is slender and slightly cylindrical, the dorsum surface is reticulate, smooth and shiny, the basic color is light brown, with beige round spots. Margins are beige too, wide and rounded, with dark brown spots. The base may be whitish, pinkish or purplish, usually with long fine dark brown teeth along a narrow aperture. In the living cowries mantle is dark grey, with clearer sensorial papillae.
Distribution
This species and subspecies range across the Central and East Indian Ocean along East Africa (Red Sea, Somalia, Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles) and in the West Pacific Ocean (Malaysia, Sulu Sea, Eastern Australia, Philippines, Samar Island, French Polynesia, Oceania, Hawaii).
Habitat
These cowries mainly live on coral reef in tropical subtidal and intertidal waters and in the continental shelf, usually hidden under rocks, coral slabs or small caves during the day, as they start feeding at dusk.