Palmadusta clandestina

Palmadusta clandestina is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

• Palmadusta clandestina candida <small>(Pease, 1865)</small>
• Palmadusta clandestina clandestina <small>(Linnaeus, 1767)</small>
• Palmadusta clandestina passerina <small>Melvill, 1888</small>

Description

Palmadusta clandestina has the flat-sided egg shape typical of cowries, and is around 26 mm long. It is one of several Cypraeoidea known to use acid for defence, in this case secreting sulphuric acid when disturbed.

Distribution

This species is distributed in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania

References

• Verdcourt, B. (1954). The cowries of the East African Coast (Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 22(4) 96: 129–144, 17 pls
• Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice