Cypraecassis testiculus (Linnaeus 1758)

Cypraecassis testiculus, common name the reticulated cowry helmet, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cassidae, the helmet snails and bonnet snails.^[1]

There is one subspecies : Cypraecassis testiculus senegalica (Gmelin, 1791)

Distribution

This species can be found on rocky shores in the Atlantic Ocean (Angola, North Carolina to Northeast Brazil), the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Lesser Antilles.

Description

The maximum recorded shell length is 85 mm.^[2]

Habitat

The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0 m; maximum recorded depth is 60 m.^[2]
Freshly-dead 'crabbed' shells have been trapped at 150–180 metres depth
off West coast Barbados in the Lesser Antilles.

References

• Gofas, S.; Afonso, J.P.; Brandào, M. (Ed.). (S.a.). Conchas e Moluscos de Angola = Coquillages et Mollusques d'Angola. [Shells and molluscs of Angola]. Universidade Agostinho / Elf Aquitaine Angola: Angola. 140 pp.
• Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.