
Velutin Snail
Coriocella nigra
- Usual depth1–31 m
- Water temperature19–30 °C
- Best monthsMarch, November, and December
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Roger Rittmaster, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Coriocella nigra is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Velutinidae. An Indo-Pacific species, it lives on rocks at depths of up to 15 m. It is up to 10 cm long and has an internal shell; body color is black or brown. C. nigra is probably a predator of tunicates.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Coriocella nigra”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
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Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 37 records
- February: 46 records
- March: 61 records
- April: 36 records
- May: 34 records
- June: 26 records
- July: 38 records
- August: 30 records
- September: 34 records
- October: 34 records
- November: 55 records
- December: 48 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–31 m · Deepest record: 42.7 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 19–30 °C
Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Mahomed Desai, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Velutin Snail
Names in 3 more languages
- French
- Coriocelle noire
- Japanese
- イボベッコウタマガイ
- Simplified Chinese
- 黑環板螺
Other scientific names: Coriocella mauritiana, Lamellaria (Coriocella) nigra, Lamellaria mauritiana, Lamellaria nigra, Marsenia (Chelyonotus) mauritiana
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 162 open-data records from 1957 to 2014.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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