Contradusta walkeri

Contradusta walkeri is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.^[1]

Contradusta walkeri
A shell of Contradusta walkeri from Philippines, anterior end towards the right
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Cypraeidae
Genus:	Contradusta
Species:	C. walkeri
Binomial name
Contradusta walkeri (Sowerby I, 1832)
Synonyms[1]
Cypraea walkeri (Sowerby I, 1832) (basionym) Cypraea amabilis Jousseaume, 1881 Erronea walkeri continens merista (f) Iredale, 1939

Subspecies

• Contradusta walkeri continens (Iredale, 1935) ^[2]
• Contradusta walkeri surabajensis Schilder, F.A., 1937 ^[3]
• Contradusta walkeri walkeri (Sowerby I, 1832) ^[4]

Description

The shells of these common cowries reach on average 19–23 millimetres (0.75–0.91 in)of length, with a minimum size of 14 millimetres (0.55 in) and a maximum size of 39 millimetres (1.5 in). The shape is usually oval, the dorsum surface is smooth and shiny, the basic color is pale brown, with a wide dark brown trasversal band and some small irregular brown patches on the top. The margins are white, with several brown dots. The base may be white, purple or cream and the wide and sinuous aperture shows long labial teeth. The interior of the shell may be purple. In the living cowries the mantle is transparent, with short sensorial papillae.

A shell of Contradusta walkeri from Philippines, dorsal view, anterior end towards the right

A shell of Contradusta walkeri from Philippines, lateral view, anterior end towards the right

A shell of Contradusta walkeri from Philippines, ventral view, anterior end towards the left

A shell of Contradusta walkeri ssp. surabajensis from Japan

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean along the Seychelles, in the West Pacific along South East Asia, the Philippines, Melanesia and Australia.

Habitat

They live in tropical subtidal waters and in continental shelf at about 5–25 metres (16–82 ft) of depth, usually on coral reef or under rocks.