Description: Macrocypraea zebra (Linnaeus, 1758) - measled cowrie (abapertural view) (public display, Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA) The gastropods (snails & slugs) are a group of molluscs that occupy marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Most gastropods have a calcareous external shell (the snails). Some lack a shell completely, or have reduced internal shells (the slugs & sea slugs & pteropods). Most members of the Gastropoda are marine. Most marine snails are herbivores (algae grazers) or predators/carnivores. The measled cowrie shown above is part of the Caribbean Province: "The warm coral waters of the Caribbean stretching from northern Brazil to the Gulf of Mexico and northward adjacent to the Bahamas and Bermuda, contain a fauna of about 800 colorful species of common, shallow-water mollusks. The pink, or queen, conch and the sunrise tellin are typical." [info. from museum signage] Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Cypraeidae Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed/unspecified More info. at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrocypraea_zebra. Date: 4 January 2016, 11:46. Source:
Macrocypraea zebra (measled cowrie) 1. Author:
James St. John.
