Nucleolaria granulata
Encyclopedia
Nucleolaria granulata, common name
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 "granulated 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
Sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....

, 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 gastropod mollusk in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 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 shell of this quite uncommon cowry reaches on average 22–28 mm (0.866141732283465–1.1 ) of length, with a maximum size of 49 millimetres (1.9 in) and a minimum size of 15 millimetre (0.590551181102362 in). The shape of the shells is wide oval and appears flattened. The dorsum surface is rough, with a deep longitudinal line in the middle and many protuberances of various sizes, each other connected by thin ribs. The aperture is narrow and the outer and inner lips have fine teeth. The base is wide and the teeth are extended to cross the entire base as ribs on both sides. In the living cowries the mantle is pinkish or reddish, with well-developed papillae, which serve to camouflage these mollusks against the seabed.

Habitat

Nucleolaria granulata lives in tropical shallow waters under rocks and caves usually at 5–25 m (16.4–82 ) of depth, feeding at night on sponges, algae or coral polyps.

External Links

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