CYPRAEIDAE Lyncina vitellus FREAK  

Philippines. Bohol. Nocnocan Island. 10-25 m. 2017.  

Size:  49.3 mm. 

"A VITELLUS WITH AN UNUSUAL RAISED SPIRAL RIB

And this spiral rib is set on the place where there should be a shoulder if this was a Conus shell.

The vitellus is a rather common cowry in the Visayas. It lives from very shallow to very deep, even two hundred meters deep. The latter deep water forms often develop some orange-red tones on top of the dorsum.

But the preferred depth here is definitely around 10 meters in a mixture of gravel and rocks with some corals. Often they sit in groups inside dead Pinna for example. 

In the night one finds them out walking on the pure sand bottoms, like they go shopping for something.

All in all this is a “sympathique” species, and I still remember my very first specimen at 13 years old which I bought in an aquarium shop in Gent, Belgium.

The vitellus is most often not a great beauty, but once in a while we meet “very beautiful” - especially when the white dots are well developed and a little raised on a black background.

Estimation: Good piece in the series of vitellus in any collection. UNIQUE and beautiful. To be proud of. 50-75 euro." - Poppe

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