On 10/18/97 and 9/7/2005 I posted this to Conch-L:

"................ My colleague, Henry McCullagh, has had a  similar
experience in cowry husbandry.  His animals, Cypraea cervus, were
collected by him in the inshore shallows of the Florida Keys, where
they are easily observed feeding on Loggerhead Sponge.

"Perhaps unabashed omnivory is a more apt description of their
trophic behavior in vitro (like that of C. spadicea).  The C. cervus
ate (occasionally from the hand that fed): red and green marine
algae, living sponges (a locally-collected (N.E Florida) red species
with maximal voracity), and moribund or dead mollusca (including
naiads and estuarine clams on the half shell) rendered thus from
primary predation by Hexaplex fulvescens aquarium mates.  Henry's
term of cowry stewardship lasted two to three years and was concluded
with their liberation.  (The same H. f. were released after eighteen
years in captivity.) ..................."

I think these cowries also ate lettuce.

Harry


At 08:21 AM 4/24/2008, you wrote:

>Ross et al,
>
>I was under the impression that coweries, like many other basically
>herbivorous species, would eat animal matter given the chance.  Is
>there anyone who raised them with observations?
>
>Allen Aigen
>[log in to unmask]
>
>-- Avril Bourquin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Dear Conchlers,
>
>I have the satisfaction of announcing a new Mollusc of the Moment by Ross
>Mayhew.  This is an excellent article on the Cypraea leucodon and can be
>accessed at:
>http://www.manandmollusc.net/MolluscMomentPast/mollusc_moment.html
>
>Thank you Ross for another well written article.   I hope everyone will
>appreciate and enjoy this article as much as I have.
>
>(Now if I only had a C. leucodon.....  One can only dream!)
>
>Enjoy,
>Avril

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