This page links to species in the families Eratoidae and Triviidae. Species of Eratoidae have at times been placed within the Triviidae, but as of this writing, they are again two separate families. Most of the eratoids and triviids are small white shells shaped roughly like cowries but covered with ridges. With similar shapes but little or no color and current species differentiation based primarily (solely?) on shell characteristics, species are notoriously difficult to tell apart and many of our IDs are tentative. The scientific literature and our own field observations suggest triviid species feed on tunicates, sometimes crawling inside to eat them from the inside out. All Marshall Islands species are small; shells we have measured ranged from about 2.5 to 8.05mm. (Click on a thumbnail for pages with larger images.)
We have a number of photographs of living animals, but have not attempted to separate them out into the species we record from the Marshalls. We are listing them as Trivia spp., although there are certainly other genera involved. Some of the tentative species below were separated on the basis of minor differences in animal color, and several almost certainly can be lumped together. However, we thought it was worthwhile to post the variations in animal color, and perhaps in the future someone can do detailed comparisons between animal and shell characteristics to try to more positively identify them.
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