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Spotted cowrie pair

Julie Hatcher

Spotted cowrie

This small sea snail is easily identifiable by the 3 brown spots on the top of its shell.

Enw gwyddonol

Trivia monacha

Pryd i'w gweld

January to December

Species information

Category

Ystadegau

Length: 1cm

Statws cadwraethol

Common

Habitats

Ynghylch

Also known as the common cowrie, the spotted cowrie has an unmistakeable ridged egg-shaped shell with a narrow opening along the underside. It lives on rocky shores and under stones at, or below, the low tide mark. They feed on sea squirts and compound ascidians, such as the star ascidian - a beautiful feature of rocky shores. The pretty shells are sometimes found washed up on beaches.

Sut i'w hadnabod

The spotted cowrie shell is a pale reddish-brown with cream ridges. They have three dark brown spots on the shell which give them their name and can be used to distinguish them from the similar Artic cowrie, Trivia arctica, which lacks spots. The head, tentacles, foot and body of this mollusc are brightly coloured - they may be red, yellow, green, brown or orange; but it is the shell you're likely to spot washed up on the beach.

Dosbarthiad

Found all around our coasts, although rare in Lincolnshire and East Anglia.

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

The spotted cowrie is often found associated with its prey: it feeds on sea squirts by biting lumps from them. Females even lay their eggs in the sea squirts by biting holes in the colonies and then laying their egg capsules into the hole. After a few weeks the larvae hatch.