Annepona mariae (Schilder, 1927)
Left: Scuba, 15 ft, deep within coral rubble. Piti, Guam. Collected by Jim Rodgers in November 1988.
Center & Right: Scuba, 60 ft, deep within coral rubble. Luminao Reef, Guam. Collected by Steve Norby in June 2003.
Distribution: Widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific.
Habitat: May be found shallow or as deep as 100 ft. This species lives deep within coral rubble and live coral.
Availability: Though not necessarily rare, live specimens are extremely difficult to obtain. Dead specimens may be found on sandy bottoms surrounding reef ledges. Rough waters may improve odds of finding a "fresh" dead specimen.
Size: Mature specimens between 10 and 15 mm is typical, large specimens on the order of 20 mm have turned up on rare occasion.
Comments: This beautiful, distinctive species is nocturnal and extremely light shy. If they suspect danger or are disturbed by your dive light, they may drop and roll into small crevices where they are irretrievable.
References:
Abbott, R. Tucker & S. Peter Dance. Compendium of Seashells. p. 83.
Burgess, C. M. 1985. Cowries of the World. p. 179.
Cate, Crawford N. 1969. The Cowry Species Living at Guam. The Veliger 12(1):129. pl. 19, fig. 21.
Cernohorsky, Walter O. 1971. Marine Shells of the Pacific. revised ed. p. 74. pl. 10, fig. 49.
Heiman, E. L. 2004. Diagnosing Cowry Species. p. 20, p. 90.
Hinton, Alan. 1972. Shells of New Guinea and the Central Indo-Pacific. p. 30.
Kay, E. Alison. 1979. Hawaiian Marine Shells. p. 196. fig 68 A & B.
Lorenz, Felix & Alex Hubert. 2000. A Guide to Worldwide Cowries. p. 222. pl. 104, fig. 1-16.
Springsteen, F. J. & F. M. Leobrera. 1986. Shells of the Philippines. p. 92. pl. 23, fig. 15.
Walls, Jerry G. 1979. Cowries. Second ed. p. 220.
Wilson, Barry. 1993. Australian Marine Shells, Part One. p. 190. pl. 35, fig. 5a-b.