Yellow Cowry

Palmadusta lutea

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Family: Cypraeidae
Genus: Palmadusta
Species: Palmadusta lutea

The yellow cowry (Palmadusta lutea) is a small cowry with a glossy, egg-shaped shell banded in yellow-brown and marked with fine dark spots along its sides.

It grows to only about 2 cm and hides under rocks and coral rubble during the day, coming out at night to graze on algae and sponges. When active, its soft mantle can spread over the shell and keep it polished.

The yellow cowry is found in the Indo-West Pacific, including the Philippines, where night divers find it by checking rubble and the undersides of rocks.