Cypraea eglantina -Duclos 1833
Eglantine Cowrie
2-2.5" 70 mm
Rare
Shell: Cylindrical and elongate with a relatively straight aperture and poorly developed callus on the margins. Convex base, Short teethm the reticulations on the dorsum are smaller and more even than on Cypraea arabica . There is usually a small dark blotch on the spire.
Animal: Varies markedly in color, mantle from dark grey to black. Papillae where short, conical, and closely spaced. Tentacles where also black, and blunt. The siphon was dark-grey and fringed with long fingerlike widely spaced processes. The foot was grey black and the crawling space a lighter grey-black. Animal colors recorded from light golden brown to grey-black to red.
Region: Central Indo-pacific from Malay peninsula to Samoa, including the northern half of Australia, Tawain and the Marshalls
Habitat: Found in profusion under coral slabs and stones.
Notes: Some shells show dark brown overglaze due to local environmental conditions. The 1970's brought a significant increase in the range of eglantina.
Subspecies: eglantina niger -Roberts. New Caledonia. Dark brown, with cream dorsal lines and ends. Cream base perhaps shded with orange. 1.75" $30 and up.
Juvenile forms Cypraea eglantina griseofformis
Heavily rostrated specimen
