Luria isabella

Luria isabella
Five views of a shell of Luria isabella
A lateral view of a shell of Luria isabella, anterior end towards the right
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda

clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Littorinimorpha

Superfamily: Cypraeoidea
Family: Cypraeidae
Genus: Luria
Species: L. isabella
Binomial name
Luria isabella
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1]
  • Cypraea isabella Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym)
  • Cypraea literata Time, 1822
  • Cypraea clara Gaskoin, J.S., 1851
  • Cypraea isabelloides Schilder, F.A., 1924
  • Cypraea cavia Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1946
  • Cypraea lemuriana Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1946
  • Cypraea cylindroides Coen, G.S., 1949

Luria isabella, common names Isabel's cowry, Isabella cowry or fawn-coloured cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]

Description

The shells of these very common cowries reach on average 25–35 millimetres (0.98–1.38 in) of length, with a minimum size of 8 millimetres (0.31 in) and a maximum size of 54 millimetres (2.1 in). The basic color of these cylindrical-shaped shells is light beige or fawn or pale reddish-brown, the dorsum surface is crossed by thin discontinuous longitudinal markings and the extremities show orange-red terminal spots. The base is mainly white and the long and narrow aperture has several short teeth. In the living cowries the well developed mantle is black matt and almost velvety, with external short antennae.

Shell of Luria isabella from Philippines
Shell of Luria isabella from Philippines

Distribution

This species lives in the Red Sea, along the East African coast, the Mascarene Basin and in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean (Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Melanesia, Philippines, Southern Japan, Taiwan) up to Hawaii.

Habitat

Living cowries of this species can be encountered in a wide range of habitats, in shallow and in intertidal waters up to about 35 metres (115 ft) of depth. During the day they usually stay under rocks and stones or in small holes or coral caves. At dawn or dusk they start feeding on sponges, algae or coral polyps.

Subspecies

There have been a great many subspecies named, but most names are very dubious. However the following are generally accepted as valid names:

References

  1. 1 2 WoRMS : Luria isabella; accessed : 17 October 2010
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