Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Cypraeidae Rank Species | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Cypraeoidea Genus Muracypraea | |
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Similar Cypraea pantherina, Trona stercoraria, Macrocypraea cervus, Macrocypraea cervinetta, Mauritia depressa | ||
Muracypraea mus, common name the mouse cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Contents
This species was once considered to belong to the archaic genus Siphocypraea (which now includes only extinct species). In 2004 it was placed by Meyer in the specifically created genus Muracypraea Woodring, 1957.
Description
The shells of these rare cowries reach on average 38–45 millimetres (1.5–1.8 in) of length, with a minimum size of 30 millimetres (1.2 in) and a maximum size of 67 millimetres (2.6 in). They are pyriform, quite thick and heavy, almost swollen, with slightly square contours. The dorsum surface of these smooth and shiny shells is generally pale brown or beige, with a variable pattern of dark brown spots. The base may be pale brown or whitish, the poorly developed teeth are usyally white or dark brown, the aperture is long and narrow. In the living cowries mantle and foot are well developed, with external antennae. Muracypraea mus is quite similar to Bernaya teulerei.
Distribution
These cowries live in the Atlantic Ocean, along northern Colombia and western Venezuela.
Habitat
Muracypraea mus lives in tropical shallow water, generally in the low intertidal zone on seagrass beds, but also at greater depths, usually feeding on algae and sponges (omnivore-grazer). Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. Maximum recorded depth is 20 m.