Erronea errones

Erronea errones, the wandering cowry or erroneous cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

Description
These very common shells reach on average 20 - 28 mm of length, with a maximum size of 45 mm and a minimum size of 13 mm. The dorsum is usually pale brown or greenish, with very variable patterns of darker greenish trasversal bands or spots. The base and the teeth of the aperture are white. In the living cowries the papillose greenish mantle grants the camouflage.

Distribution
This species is distributed in the East Indian Ocean along South India, Andaman Islands, Madagascar and Tanzania, as well in West Pacific Ocean along Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, New Caledonia, Samoa and Australia.

Habitat
These cowries live in shallow tropical waters at low tide, usually under rocks or stones, feeding on algae.

Synonyms

 * Cypraea errones, Linnaeus, 1758
 * Cypraea oblonga, Gmelin, J.F., 1791
 * Cypraea bimaculata, (Gray 1824)
 * Cypraea coxi, (Brazier 1872)
 * Cypraea pusilla, Gmelin, J.F., 1791
 * Cypraea coerulescens, Schroter, J.S., 1804 : E Australia
 * Cypraea ovum, Kiener, L.C., 1843
 * Cypraea chrysophaea, Melvill, J.C., 1888
 * Cypraea compressa, Dautzenberg, Ph., 1903
 * Erronea nimiproba, Iredale, T., 1935
 * Cypraea nimiserrans, Iredale, T., 1935
 * Cypraea magerrones, Iredale, T., 1939 : E Australia
 * Cypraea probaIredale, T., 1939 : W Australia
 * Erronea kalavo, Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943
 * Erronea vivili, Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943
 * Palmadusta asellus fusca (f), Coen, G.S., 1949
 * Erronea fusca, Coen, G.S., 1949