---
title: Carnelian Cowrie (Lyncina carneola)
scientific_name: Lyncina carneola
common_name: Carnelian Cowrie
taxon: Cowries
published: 2026-08-29T19:05:36.377Z
updated: 2026-08-29T19:21:20.228Z
tags: Carnelian Cowrie, Lyncina carneola, Cowries, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/molluscs/cowries/carnelian-cowrie
---

# Carnelian Cowrie (*Lyncina carneola*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Cowries (*Cypraeidae*)
- **Size:** up to 6.6 cm
- **Diet:** Omnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Reef and rubble, under ledges and in crevices by day
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Gonochoric

## How to recognise it

- orange-brown shell crossed by paler bands, with no spots at all
- the slot underneath is violet, and so are the teeth along it
- mantle mottled reddish-brown
- up to six and a half centimeters

The color that settles this one is on the part you have to turn over.

The upper side is orange-brown crossed by broad paler bands, plain and unspotted, which puts it in a small group of similar shells. The underside is where it separates: the long narrow slot running the length of the shell is violet, and the rows of fine teeth along both its edges are violet too. Nothing else here has that. The old English name for the species is the purple-mouthed cowrie and it is the more useful of the two.

Alive, none of this shows. Cowries carry two flaps of mantle that rise from the foot, fold up over the back and meet along the middle, wrapping the shell completely, and on this species the mantle is mottled reddish-brown. That mantle also builds the shell from the outside as the animal grows and keeps it polished, which is why a live one gleams and a beach shell goes dull.

Six and a half centimeters (2.6 in), out at night, wedged under a ledge or deep in a crevice through the day.

It has a large relative on this reef that looks almost the same and is simply bigger, so on a shell of this size in the middle range, check the violet before deciding.

## Also known as

- **English:** Carnelian Cowry, purple-mouthed cowry
- **Hebrew:** פי-כושי אזור
- **French:** Porcelaine carnée
- **Italian:** Ciprea corniola
- **Czech:** zavinutec karneolový
- **Japanese:** クチムラサキダカラ
- **Chinese:** 紫口寶螺
- **Russian:** Ципрея сердоликовая
- **KO:** 홍옥수개오지
- **TH:** หอยเบี้ยขาวแดง

## Scientific synonyms

- *Cypraea (Lyncina) carneola* Linnaeus, 1758
- *Cypraea (Lyncina) carneola var. aurea* Coen, 1949
- *Cypraea (Lyncina) carneola var. pretiosa* Coen, 1949
- *Cypraea aureola* Schröter, 1804
- *Cypraea carneola* Linnaeus, 1758
- *Cypraea carneola crassa* Gmelin, 1791
- *Cypraea carneola f. minor* Dautzenberg, 1923
- *Cypraea carneola sowerbyi* Anton, 1838
- *Cypraea carneola var. adonis* Rous, 1905
- *Cypraea carneola var. halmaja* Melvill, 1888
- *Cypraea carneola var. rubiola* Kenyon, 1902
- *Cypraea crassa* Gmelin, 1791
- *Cypraea isabella var. limpida* Melvill, 1888
- *Cypraea loebbeckeana* Weinkauff, 1881
- *Cypraea marmorata* Blainville, 1826
- *Cypraea sowerbyi* Anton, 1838
- *Ponda carneola* (Linnaeus, 1758)
- *Ponda carneola thepalea* Iredale, 1939

## Range

Red Sea

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/molluscs/cowries/carnelian-cowrie)*
*Updated: August 29, 2026*