Trivia monacha
| Trivia monacha | |
|---|---|
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| Live spotted cowrie in a petri dish | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Littorinimorpha |
| Superfamily: | Velutinoidea |
| Family: | Triviidae |
| Subfamily: | Triviinae |
| Genus: | Trivia |
| Species: | T. monacha |
| Binomial name | |
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Trivia monacha (da Costa, 1778) |
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Trivia monacha, also known as the European cowrie or spotted cowrie, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Triviidae, the trivias.
The name Trivia means "common" and the word monacha means "solitary".
It is worth comparing this species with the similar species Trivia arctica, the northern cowrie.
The shell of this species is glossy, convolute and lemon-shaped, with 20-30 transverse ridges. The dorsal part of the shell is a pinkish or reddish-brown with three characteristic darker spots in mature individuals, on spot anterior, the other posterior and one in the centre, all situated along a central line. Juvenile shells are all white or light-coloured. The apertural side is white and flattened. The aperture is narrow and runs along the whole length of the shell. At the ends it turns to the left in the direction of the swollen body whorl. The transverse ridges are strong and often bifurcate. The ones at the ends are almost U-shaped.
The shell length is up to a maximum of about 15 mm and its width about 8 mm.
The dark mantle is covered by few papillae, usually tipped with pale yellow. The mantle is drawn out into a long siphon anteriorly, extending over the whole (or almost the whole) shell. The foot is orange or bright yellow.
The breeding season is late spring or summer. The larvae have a very dark stomach and intestine. More developed larvae in the veliger stage have a two-lobed velum (a structure used for swimming and particulate food collection) that is slightly indented at sides. The larvae reach the adult form in about five to six months.
This species occurs from the Mediterranean Sea to the Shetland archipelago in the north of Scotland, but is more common in the south.
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Wikipedia