''Macrocypraea zebra'', common name the measled cowrie, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a cowry, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Cypraeidae, the cowries.

Subspecies

*''Macrocypraea zebra dissimilis'', Schilder, Franz Alfred, 1924Gastropods.com : ''Macrocypraea zebra dissimilis''
; accessed : 24 October 2010

Description

The shells of these quite uncommon cowries reach on average of length, with a minimum size of and a maximum recorded

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

length of .Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. . The shape is usually long oval, the dorsum surface is smooth and shiny, the basic color is brown, usually with three wide dark brown trasversal bands and several white-bluish spots and a light gray longitudinal mark on the top ('sulcus'). On the sides the white spots become ocellated, showing a small dark brown spots on the center. The base of ''Macrocypraea zebra'' shell is pale brown and the long and narrow aperture usually bears long dark brown labial teeth. The interior of the shell may be purple. ''Macrocypraea zebra'' is quite similar to '' Macrocypraea cervus'' and ''

Macrocypraea cervinetta ''Macrocypraea'' is a genus of large sea snails, cowries, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the family (biology), family Cypraeidae, the cowries. Species Species within the genus ''Macrocypraea'' include: *''Macrocypraea cervinetta'' ...

'', but it can be easily distinguished on side view by the presence of mentioned ocellated spots, that are missing in the last two species. In the living cowries of ''Macrocypraea zebra'' the mantle is greyish, with short sensorial papillae. The mantle may cover the entire shell and can be withdrawn into the shell opening when the cowry is threatened.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Atlantic Ocean along

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

, the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

(as far East as

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

) and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Habitat

They live in tropical low intertidal and in subtidal waters, usually on coral reef or under rocks. Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. Maximum recorded depth is 37 m.

References

* Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas {{Taxonbar, from=Q3139606 Cypraeidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus