Naria helvola (Linnaeus, 1758)
Honey
cowry or Strawberry, 10-32mm
Naria helvola is a common
species in the Marshall Islands, where it occupies a wide variety of habitats.
The largest numbers of specimens are seen under rocks on the intertidal reef,
or in shallow lagoon reef and pinnacle habitats, but they can also be found
quite easily on the seaward reef. They also commonly live among Halimeda
algae plants on sandy lagoon reefs. Specimens live at depths from 0 to at least
20 meters and probably deeper. The shells vary somewhat across this species'
wide Indo-Pacific range and Naria helvola has been broken up into three
geographic subspecies, and the one found in the Marshalls is Naria helvola
helvola. The first specimen below is crawling across some purple sponge
on the undersurface of a rock.
The mantle makes the shell hard
to see.
The individual below was brooding
a freshly deposited egg mass. Each of those cream-colored capsules under the
shell contains a number of developing cowry larvae. When ready to hatch, they
will drift away and spend the first part of their lives floating as plankton.
Below, a pair, one with the mantle
partly extended, crawl across the undersurface of a shallow water rock.
The empty shells below illustrate
some of the variation in color pattern. First is a 16.75mm shell found in 1973.
25.9mm, 1982
11.7mm, 28 June 1998
22.85mm, 1 January 2005
The oddly colored specimen below
measured 19.2mm, found on 2 January 2000.
Created
1 April 2008
Updated 3 April 2024
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