''Lyncina vitellus'', common name : the calf cowry or the Pacific deer cowry, is a species of

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a cowry, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

Subspecies and formae

* ''Lyncina vitellus dama'' ( Perry, 1811) * ''Lyncina vitellus polynesiae'' Schilder & Schilder 1939 *'' Lyncina vitellus vitellus orcina'' Iredale, 1931

Description

The shells of these very common cowries reach on average of length, with a minimum size of and a maximum size of . The shape is usually pear-shaped, the dorsum surface is smooth and shiny and may be pale or dark brown, with several small white spots. The margins and the extremities are clearer, while the base is generally white, with a wide sinuous aperture and long labial teeth. The margins show also numerous thin vertical whitish lines. The juvenile forms have two-three clearer trasversal bands on the shell dorsum. These shells are quite similar and may be confused with the shells of ''

Lyncina camelopardalis ''Lyncina camelopardalis'', common name the camel cowrie, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. There is one subspecies : ''Lyncina camelopardalis sharmiensis'' Heiman & Mienis, ...

''. In the living cowries the mantle is grey-brown and almost transparent, with long whitish tree-shaped papillae. Mantle and foot are very well developed, usually with external antennae.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along

Aldabra Aldabra is the world's second-largest coral atoll, lying south-east of the continent of Africa. It is part of the Aldabra Group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, with a distance of 1,120 k ...

, Chagos, the

Comores The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. I ...

, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique,

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania and also along Jeju island, Philippines, Palau Islands, Samoa Islands, Polynesia, Hawaii and Vietnam.

Habitat

They live in tropical intertidal and subtidal water at about of depth on coral reef, usually under coral slabs and stones.

References

External links

Biolib

Sealife
Cypraeidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Cypraeidae-stub