Harlequin cowrie
Mauritia histrio
- Usual depth1–1 m
- Water temperature15–29 °C
- Best monthsJuly
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
About this species
Mauritia histrio, common name the harlequin cowry or the stage cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Mauritia histrio”, 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: 23 records
- February: 20 records
- March: 26 records
- April: 16 records
- May: 14 records
- June: 14 records
- July: 66 records
- August: 12 records
- September: 13 records
- October: 19 records
- November: 22 records
- December: 7 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–1 m · Deepest record: 0.9 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 15–29 °C
Photos
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) novvictan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Emanuele Santarelli, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Mario Garofano, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Harlequin cowrie, Harlequin cowry, History cowrie, Minstrel cowry, Stage cowrie, harlequin cowrie, harlequin cowry, history cowrie, minstrel cowry, stage cowrie
Names in 1 more languages
- German
- Geschichtskauri, Harlekinkauri
Other scientific names: Cypraea (Aricia) histrio, Cypraea arlequina, Cypraea histrio, Cypraea oculata, Cypraea reticulata, Cypraea undosa, Mauritia (Arabica) histrio
Similar species
Dog-rose cowrieMauritia eglantina
- Humpback cowrie
Mauritia mauritiana
Jester cowrieMauritia scurra
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).
- 282 open-data records from 1791 to 2004.
- Species data updated November 4, 2026.
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