''Ovatipsa chinensis'' common name the Chinese cowrie, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
cowry
Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana'') d ...
mollusk
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
in the family
Cypraeidae
Cypraeidae, commonly named the cowries ( cowry), is a taxonomic family of small to large sea snails. These are marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, the cowries and cowry allies.
Shell description
Cypraeidae have adult s ...
, the cowries.WoRMS : Ovatipsa chinensis; accessed : 11 October 2010 /ref>
Description
The mantle of the animal is bright red, and it is completely covered by protruding short filaments. The shells of this species reach of length. The shells are smooth and elongate, light brown or yellowish in color with clear dots on the dorsum and a flat white base. With the subspecies ''variolaria'' (Lamarck, 1810), the basic color of the shell is light brown, with slight purple spots on the edges.
Distribution and Habitat
This species is found throughout the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
and in the Central
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
, in seas along
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, in intertidal waters at of depth . The Chinese cowry is active at night and hides under rocks in cracks and crevices during the day.
Subspecies
The following subspecies have been recognized :
* ''Ovatipsa chinensis amiges'' (Melvill and Standen, 1915)
* ''Ovatipsa chinensis chinensis'' (Gmelin, 1791)
* ''Ovatipsa chinensis somaliana'' Lorenz, 1999
* ''Ovatipsa chinensis variolaria'' (Lamarck, 1810)
* ''Ovatipsa chinensis violacea'' (Rous, 1905)
References
* Copley, H. (1945). ''List of cowries collected on the Kenyan coast by Colonel Maxwell and friends during July, 1944''. JEANHS XVII (83&84): 160
* Verdcourt, B. (1954). ''The cowries of the East African Coast (Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba)''. Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 22(4) 96: 129-144, 17 pls.
* Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). ''Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice''