Nucleolaria nucleus


Nucleolaria nucleus, the wrinkled cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
There is one subspecies: Staphylaea nucleus madagascariensis . This subspecies is distributed in the Indian Ocean along Kenya, Madagascar and Tanzania.

Description

These quite rare shells reach on average length, with a maximum size of and a minimum size of. This shell is oval, the dorsum surface is light orange-brown with a thin longitudinal line in the middle, many small round protuberances and two orange areas at the extremities. The base is light orange and the small teeth are extended to both sides of the entire base. In the living cowries the mantle is brownish, with well-developed papillae.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania, as well in Western Central Pacific Ocean.