No photo available
Harlequin cowrie
Mauritia histrio
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 216870, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Harlequin cowrie
- Scientific
- Mauritia histrio
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Cowries
- Family
- Cypraeidae (cowries)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 7 cm (length)
- Depth and habitat
- Sea floor (benthic)
- IUCN status
- NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)
Description
The harlequin cowrie has a large, glossy, brown shell covered in a fine network of pale, rounded or polygonal spots, with darker blotches along the sides. It lives in the Indian Ocean on shallow reefs and is active at night, when its mantle covers the shell.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=44); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=65, 26 observers).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Mauritia-histrio.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=216870
- inaturalist.org /taxa/803365
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Mauritia_histrio_01.JPG
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.