Flamingo tongue snail

The flamingo tongue snail (Cyphoma gibbosum) is a species of small but brightly colored sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the ovulids, cowry allies or false cowries.

Flamingo tongue snail
Feeding on a soft coral; the siphon is visible at the top, and the tip of the tail is visible at the bottom. A large skid mark is visible as a brown stripe on the coral. These snails are pink and orange.
Five views of a shell of Cyphoma gibbosum (Linné, 1758)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Ovulidae
Genus:	Cyphoma
Species:	C. gibbosum
Binomial name
Cyphoma gibbosum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
List Bulla gibbosa Linnaeus, 1758 Cyphoma alleneae Cate, 1973 Cyphoma dorsatum Röding, 1798 Cyphoma finkli Petuch, 1979 Cyphoma gibbosa (Linnaeus, 1758) (error in gender ending) Cyphoma lindae Petuch, 1987 Cyphoma macumba Petuch, 1979 (uncertain synonym) Cyphoma mcgintyi Pilsbry, 1939 Cyphoma precursor Dall, 1897 Cyphoma robustior Bayer, 1941 Cyphoma signata Pilsbry & McGinty, 1939 (error in gender ending) Cyphoma signatum Pilsbry & McGinty, 1939 Ovula pharetra Perry, 1811 Ovula rostrata Mörch, 1877

Flamingo Tongue Snail with part of its body out of the shell

Taxonomy

A 2017 DNA analysis confirmed that Cyphoma signatum and Cyphoma mcgintyi are genetically homogenous with Cyphoma gibbosum, and that each type are morphological variations of a single species.

Description

Alive, the snail appears bright orange-yellow in color with black markings. However, these colors are not in the shell, but are only due to live mantle tissue which usually covers the shell. The mantle flaps can be retracted, exposing the shell, but this usually happens only when the animal is attacked.

The shells reach on average 25–35 mm (0.98–1.38 in) of length, with a minimum size of 18 mm (0.71 in) and a maximum shell length of 45 mm (1.8 in). The shape is usually elongated and the dorsum shows a thick transversal ridge. The dorsum surface is smooth and shiny and may be white or orange, with no markings at all except a longitudinal white or cream band. The base and the interior of a C. gibbosum shell is white or pinkish, with a wide aperture.

Distribution and habitat

This is the most common of several species in the genus Cyphoma, which lives in the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina to northern coast of Brazil, including off Bermuda, in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and off the Lesser Antilles.

The minimum recorded depth is 0.3 m, and the maximum recorded depth is 90 m.

Ecology

Flamingo tongue on a sea rod

The minimum recorded depth is at the surface, and the maximum recorded depth is 29 m.

The flamingo tongue snail feeds by browsing on the living tissues of the soft corals on which it lives. Common prey include Briareum spp., Gorgonia spp., Plexaura spp., and Plexaurella spp. Adult females of C. gibbosum attach eggs to coral which they have recently fed upon. After roughly 10 days, the larvae hatch. They are planktonic and eventually settle onto other gorgonian corals. Juveniles tend to remain on the underside of coral branches, while adults are far more visible and mobile. An adult scrapes the polyps off the coral with its radula, leaving an easily visible feeding scar on the coral. However, the corals can regrow the polyps, so predation by C. gibbosum is generally not lethal.

Conservation status

This species used to be common, but it has become rather uncommon in heavily visited areas because of over-collecting by snorkelers and scuba divers, who make the mistake of thinking that the bright colors are in the shell of the animal.

References

• Flamingo tongue snail
• Coral reefs

Further reading

• Burkepile D. E. & Hay M. E. (2007). Predator release of the gastropod Cyphoma gibbosum increases predation on gorgonian corals. Oecologia 154(1): 167–173. doi:10.1007/s00442-007-0801-4
• Cate, C. N. 1973. A systematic revision of the recent Cypraeid family Ovulidae. Veliger 15 (supplement): 1-117.
• Lorenz F. & Fehse D. (2009) The living Ovulidae. A manual of the families of allied cowries: Ovulidae, Pediculariidae and Eocypraeidae. Hackenheim: Conchbooks.
• Reijnen B.T. & van der Meij S.E.T. (2017). "Coat of many colours—DNA reveals polymorphism of mantle patterns and colouration in Caribbean Cyphoma Röding, 1798 (Gastropoda, Ovulidae)". PeerJ5:e3018 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3018
• Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas
• Whalen K. E., Lane A. L., Kubanek J., Hahn M. E. (2010). Biochemical Warfare on the Reef: The Role of Glutathione Transferases in Consumer Tolerance of Dietary Prostaglandins. PLOS One 5(1): e8537. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008537

External links

• "Cyphoma gibbosa". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
• Cate, C. N. 1973. A systematic revision of the recent Cypraeid family Ovulidae. Veliger 15 (supplement): 1-117
• Reijnen B.T. and van der Meij S.E.T. (2017). Coat of many colours? DNA reveals polymorphism of mantle patterns and colouration in Caribbean Cyphoma Röding, 1798 (Gastropoda, Ovulidae). PeerJ. 5: e3018
• Photos of Flamingo tongue snail on Sealife Collection