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| shelled snails text index | photo index |
| Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda > Family Cypraeidea |
| Onyx
cowrie Erronea onyx Family Cypraeidae updated Jul 2020 Where seen? This stunning snail with a golden-brown shell is sometimes seen on our undisturbed Northern shores, in silty sandy areas near seagrasses and coral rubble. Elsewhere, it is found in coral rubble and muddy areas including mangroves. It was previously known as Cypraea onyx. Features:3-4cm, up to 6cm. Shell pear-shaped, dark brown to orange with 2 or 3 bands of gold. The underside is black with an orange tinge on the 'teeth'. The living animal has a mantle with a dark to golden yellow base, usually mottled but sometimes uniform. Sometimes mistaken for a sea slug. When the shell is completely covered in its mantle, it is sometimes mistaken for a sea slug. Here's more on how to tell apart slugs and animals that look like slugs. Human uses: It is collected for subsistence food by coastal dwellers and the shell for the shell trade. |
 Beting Bronok, May 11 |
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 'Teeth' tinged orange. |
| Leave cowries alone: A mother cowrie stays over her eggs after she lays them, covering the egg mass (usually yellowish) with her foot. So if you see a cowrie under a stone, please don't rip it off. You might inadvertently separate a mother from her eggs! |
 Mama cowrie protecting her egg mass with her foot. Pulau Ubin, Dec 12 |
 Mama cowrie protecting her egg mass with her foot. Pulau Ubin, Dec 12 Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr. |
| Onyx cowries on Singapore shores |
On wildsingapore
flickr
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| Other sightings on Singapore shores |
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