Serpent's head cowrie
Monetaria caputserpentis
- Usual depth1–12 m
- Water temperature20–30 °C
- Best monthsJuly
- How commonOccasional
About this species
Monetaria caputserpentis, common name the serpent's-head cowry or snakehead cowry, is a species of cowry, a sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Monetaria caputserpentis”, 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: 39 records
- February: 29 records
- March: 34 records
- April: 37 records
- May: 46 records
- June: 45 records
- July: 238 records
- August: 66 records
- September: 46 records
- October: 31 records
- November: 40 records
- December: 48 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 1–12 m · Deepest record: 67 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Serpent's head cowrie, Serpent's head cowry, Snake's head cowrie, serpent's head cowrie, Serpent's-head Cowrie, serpent's head cowry, Serpent's-head Cowry, Snakehead Cowrie, Snakehead Cowry, snake's head cowrie, Snake's-head Cowry
Names in 6 more languages
- German
- Kleines Schlangenköpfchen, Schlangenkopfkauri
- French
- Porcelaine tête de serpent
- Japanese
- セジロハナマルユキ, ナガハナマルユキ, ハナマルユキ
- Korean
- 별개오지, 둥근별개오지
- Thai
- หอยเบี้ยต่าง
- Simplified Chinese
- 雪山寶螺
Other scientific names: Cypraea albella, Cypraea bandata, Cypraea caputanguis, Cypraea caputcolubri, Cypraea caputserpentis, Cypraea dorsoalbida, Cypraea reticulum, Erosaria (Ravitrona) caputserpentis, Erosaria caputserpentis, Monetaria candidata, Ravitrona caputserpentis
Similar species
- Ring cowrie
Monetaria annulus
- Money cowrie
Monetaria moneta
Kiener's CowryBistolida kieneri
Sieve cowrieCribrarula cribraria
Tiger cowrieCypraea tigris
- Thick-edged cowry
Erronea caurica
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).
- 2,028 open-data records from 1758 to 2023.
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