Common egg cowrie

About this species

Ovula ovum, common name the common egg cowrie, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the ovulids, cowry allies or false cowries.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Ovula ovum”, 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: 82 records
February: 75 records
March: 87 records
April: 109 records
May: 95 records
June: 78 records
July: 74 records
August: 116 records
September: 93 records
October: 118 records
November: 100 records
December: 88 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–18 m · Deepest record: 18 m

0–10 m: 6 records
10–20 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 22–30 °C

20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 13 records
24–26 °C: 20 records
26–28 °C: 40 records
28–30 °C: 74 records

Photos

(c) Anders Sandberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) PampaSorro, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) TonyT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard DUPONT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) amfstocker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Common egg cowrie, common egg cowrie, Common Egg Cowry

Names in 5 more languages

German: Gemeine Eischnecke
French: Ovule commune
Japanese: ウミウサギ, ウミウサギガイ
Thai: หอยไข่ธรรมดา
Simplified Chinese: 海兔螺

Other scientific names: Bulla ovum, Ovula alba, Ovula cygnea, Ovula oviformis, Ovula papyracea, Ovula pygmaea, Ovulum ovum, Ovulum pygmaea, Volva cygnea, Xandarovula figgisae

Similar species

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).
361 open-data records from 1758 to 2011.
Species data updated October 30, 2026.