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family CYPRAEIDAE Genus Cypraea Linne 1758 Subgenus Trona Jousseaume 1884 Cypraea zebra Linne Measled Cowrie Plate 6d Southeast Florida and the West Indies. 2 to 3/4 inches in length, oblong, light-faun to light-brown, with large, round, white dots over the back. Toward the base of the shell these white dots have a brown center. The shell is darker brown, narrower and less inflated than cervus. Moderately common in intertidal waters. Formerly called C. exanthema Linne. A light orangish form, probably due to being buried in sand for some time, was described from Cuba (form vallei Jaume and Borro 1946). Cypraea cervus Linne Atlantic Deer Cowrie Plate 6i Southern half of Florida and Cuba. 3 to 5 inches in length, similar to zebra, but usually with smaller and more numerous white spots, with a more inflated and larger shell, and never has ocellated spots on the base of the shell. Moderately common from low tide to several fathoms. Subgenus Liiria Jousseaume 1884 Cypraea cinerea Gmelin Atlantic Gray Cowrie Plate 6c Southeast Florida and the West Indies. % to I /4 inches in length, rotund, with its back brownish mauve to light orange-brown which may be flecked with tiny, black-brown specks. Base cream to old ivory with light mauve-brown between some of the teeth, or sometimes with tiny flyspecks of brown. A moderately common species found under rocks on reefs. Subgenus Eros aria Troschel 1863 Cypraea spurca aciciilaris Gmelin Atlantic Yellow Cowrie Plate 6a South half of Florida, Yucatan and the West Indies. % to 1/4 inches in length; back irregularly flecked and spotted with orange-brown and whitish. Base and teeth ivory-white. Lateral extremities often with small pie-crust indentations. Distinguished from cinerea in being flatter and without color on the base. A moderately common species found under rocks at low tide. True spurca L. is from the Mediterranean.