Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, 1758
Tiger cowry, 100mm

We saw these on both day and night dives at several sites in the Anilao area. In size and color they closely resembled shells we know from the Marshalls. I recall seeing large burlap bags of Philippine tiger cowries shipped into a Honolulu dive/aquarium shop in the early 1970s. All those shell were much smaller, which led me to believe Philippine tigers were all small. Most likely, like in parts of the Marshalls, the small ones live intertidally, where they are more easily collected for the commercial trade. Those we saw at diving depths around Anilao were all larger.

Created 24 August 2015
Updated 17 December 2018

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