Cypraea depressa -Gray 1824
Depressed Cowrie
23.0-55.5 mm
Uncommon
Shell: Smallest of arabica group, heavily callous and expanded margins give it a depressed look and a round outline. Very convex base, teeth relatively course and large. The reticulations are small and clear cut, white against a red-brown background, margins with strong, brown spots and purple-brown clouding which tend to runover on to the white base, teeth red-brown.
Animal:
Region: Indian ocean from east Africa to Java, and also the central pacific from the marshalls, to Clipperton Island and from New Caledonia to Tahiti, but has not yet been found in the Borneo, Phillipines, New Guinea, and Australian area.
Habitat: Lives in active water under coral slabs and stones on hard reef.
