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Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda > Family Cypraeidea
Ovum cowrie
Erronea ovum
Family Cypraeidae
updated Jul 2020
if you learn only 3 things about them ...
Cowries are often well camouflaged. Look carefully for them.
Their shells are highly prized, thus cowries are threatened by over-collection.
Don't rip off a cowrie from a stone! It might be a mother cowrie protecting her eggs.

Where seen?
This little cowrie is commonly seen on our Northern shores usually under stones, but sometimes crawling about in the open. Sometimes also seen on our Southern shores among coral rubble. It was previously known as Cypraea ovum.

Features: 2-3cm.
Shell pear-shaped, generally pale blue with 3 broad pale brown bands and small brown speckles all over. Sometimes, but not always, with a big brown blotch in the middle. There are no brown spots at the front tip of the shell. Underside white with 'teeth' that are tinged yellow or orange. The living animal has a dark mottled mantle.

Sometimes confused with the Wandering cowrie (Cypraea errones) which is similar but is cylindrical in shape. It does not have coloured 'teeth' and has a brown spot or spots at the front end of the shell. Here's more on how to tell apart Wandering and Ovum cowries.

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.

St. John's Island, Jun 07

'Teeth' are coloured.
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 with her egg mass.
Chek Jawa, Oct 03

Mama cowrie protecting her egg mass with her foot.
Changi, Jun 12
 

Ovum cowries on Singapore shores
On wildsingapore flickr

Other sightings on Singapore shores


Pasir Ris-Loyang, Oct 20
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.


East Coast Park, Feb 16
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.

Sentosa Serapong, May 16
Photo shared by Ivan Kwan on facebook.

Berlayar Creek, Oct 17
Photo shared by Abel Yeo on facebook.


Lazarus Island, Jul 11
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

Terumbu Selegie, May 24

Photo shared by Richard Kuah on facebook.
 


Terumbu Pempang Laut, Mar 24

Photo shared by Vincent Choo on facebook.

Terumbu Pempang Tengah, May 11
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.
 


Beting Bemban Besar, May 11
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.

Terumbu Raya, May 10
Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on her blog.

Raffles Lighthouse, Nov 16
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.


Pulau Pawai, Dec 09
Photo shared by James Koh on his flickr.

Pulau Sudong, Dec 09
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his flickr.

Terumbu Berkas, Jan 10
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his flickr.

Links

References

  • Tan Siong Kiat and Henrietta P. M. Woo, 2010 Preliminary Checklist of The Molluscs of Singapore (pdf), Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore.
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