Luria isabella
Encyclopedia
Luria isabella, common name
the Isabel's Cowry or Fawn-coloured Cowry, is a species
of sea snail
, a cowry
, a marine
gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae
, the cowries.
, 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
.
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
the Isabel's Cowry or Fawn-coloured Cowry, is a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of sea snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, a cowry
Cowry
Cowry, also sometimes spelled cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries...
, a marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae
Cypraeidae
Cypraeidae, common name the cowries , 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:...
, the cowries.
Description
The shells of these very common cowries reach on average 25–35 mm (0.984251968503937–1.4 ) of length, with a minimum size of 8 millimetre (0.31496062992126 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.Gallery
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Distribution
This species lives in the Red SeaRed Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, along the East African coast, the Mascarene Basin and in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
(Malaysia, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Southern Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
) up to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
Habitat
Living cowries can be encountered in a wide range of habitats, in shallow and in intertidal waters up to about 35 metres (114.8 ft) of depth. As they fear the light, 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:- Luria isabella isabella (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Luria isabella controversa (Gray, 1824) (sometimes accepted as Luria controversa)
- Luria isabella gilvella Lorenz, 1999
- Luria isabella mexicana Stearns, 1893