
Panther cowrie
Cypraea pantherina
- Water temperature25–30 °C
- Best monthsFebruary and September
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Cypraea pantherina, common name the panther cowry, is a species of large tropical sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The panther cowry is one of only two species currently included in the genus Cypraea, as all other species previously belonging to the genus Cypraea have been reassigned to other genera within the family Cypraeidae.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Cypraea pantherina”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 1 records
- February: 5 records
- March: 1 records
- April: 4 records
- May: 4 records
- June: 2 records
- July: 0 records
- August: 1 records
- September: 8 records
- October: 0 records
- November: 0 records
- December: 3 records
Depth and water temperature
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 25–30 °C
Photos

(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Panther cowrie, panther cowrie
Names in 1 more languages
- German
- Pantherkauri, Pantherschnecke
Other scientific names: Cypraea (Pantherinaria) pantherina, Cypraea guttata, Cypraea leopardus, Cypraea obtusa, Cypraea pardus, Cypraea tigrina, Cypraea vinosa
Similar species
Tiger cowrieCypraea tigris
Kiener's CowryBistolida kieneri
Sieve cowrieCribrarula cribraria
Thick-edged cowryErronea caurica

Mistaken cowrieErronea errones
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).
- 79 open-data records from 1976 to 1976.
- Species data updated November 2, 2026.
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