The “Dragon’s Head Cowry” is a common cowry famous from its endemism to Easter Island and Isla Salas y Gómez, in the easternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. A beautifully spotted species, it is distinct from the relative Monetaria caputserpentis by having black marks between teeth and having no callus in the margin.

Although strictly speaking an omnivore like most cowries, it feeds mostly on algal material and is effectively an herbivorous gastropod. It is found mostly on rocky bottoms in intertidal reefs in crevices and under corals and rocks, in very shallow to shallow water less than -30m deep; being most common less than -10m deep. Average shell length around 30~35mm but it is very variable in size from dwarves as little as 15mm to giants exceeding 40mm.

The population in Isla Salas y Gómez differs from Easter Island population by being smaller in size and having a much paler shell, and is usually recognised as subspecies M. caputdraconis poppei (Martin, 1989). – from Chong Chen’s post

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