No photo available
Snakehead cowrie
Monetaria caputserpentis
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 570811, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Snakehead cowrie
- Scientific
- Monetaria caputserpentis
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Cowries
- Family
- Cypraeidae (cowries)
- Depth and habitat
- Sea floor (benthic)
- IUCN status
- NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)
Description
The snakehead cowrie is a small, flattened cowrie with a dark brown margin and a back patterned with white spots on a brown background, looking a little like a snake's head from above. It lives on wave-exposed reef flats and rocks, often in very shallow water.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=18); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=39, 20 observers).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Monetaria-caputserpentis.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=570811
- inaturalist.org /taxa/506307
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Cypraea_caputserpentis.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.