Flamingo tongue snail

{{Short description|Species of gastropod}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Speciesbox | image = Cyphoma gibbosum (living) 2.jpg | image_caption = 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. | image2 = Cyphoma_gibbosum_01.JPG | image2_caption = Five views of a shell of ''Cyphoma gibbosum'' (Linné, 1758) | taxon = Cyphoma gibbosum | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonyms_ref = <ref>{{cite WoRMS |author=Gary Rosenberg |year=2013 |title=''Cyphoma gibbosum'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |id=432297 |accessdate=15 October 2013}}</ref> | synonyms = {{hidden begin|title = 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 {{hidden end}} }}

thumb|Flamingo Tongue Snail with part of its body out of the shell 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.<ref name="WoRMS">[http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=432297 Rosenberg, G. (2010). Cyphoma gibbosum (Linnaeus, 1758). In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at www.marinespecies.org on 2017-06-27]</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.7717/peerj.3018 | title=Coat of many colours—DNA reveals polymorphism of mantle patterns and colouration in Caribbean ''Cyphoma'' Röding, 1798 (Gastropoda, Ovulidae) | year=2017 | last1=Reijnen | first1=Bastian T. | last2=Van Der Meij | first2=Sancia E.T. | journal=PeerJ | volume=5 | article-number=e3018 | pmid=28265504 | pmc=5337085 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

==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 {{convert|25|-|35|mm|abbr=on}} of length, with a minimum size of {{convert|18|mm|abbr=on}} and a maximum shell length of {{convert|45|mm|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Welch 2010">Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". ''PLOS One'' 5(1): e8776. {{doi|10.1371/journal.pone.0008776|doi-access=free}}.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gastropods.com/2/Shell_442.shtml|title=Cyphoma gibbosum|first=Eddie|last=Hardy|website=www.gastropods.com}}</ref>

The minimum recorded depth is 0.3 m, and the maximum recorded depth is 90 m.<ref name="Welch 2010"/>

==Ecology== [[File:Cyphoma gibbosum 001.jpg|left|thumb|Flamingo tongue on a sea rod ]] The minimum recorded depth is at the surface, and the maximum recorded depth is 29 m.<ref name="Welch 2010"/>

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.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

== References == {{Reflist}} * [http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/photos/flamtong.html Flamingo tongue snail] * [http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/coralreef.html 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|doi-access=free}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Cyphoma gibbosum}} * {{Gastropods.com|key=2|id=442|title=''Cyphoma gibbosa''|access-date=11 November 2010}} * [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42495434 Cate, C. N. 1973. A systematic revision of the recent Cypraeid family Ovulidae. Veliger 15 (supplement): 1-117] * [https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3018 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] * {{sealifephotos|432297}}

Category:Ovulidae Category:Gastropods described in 1758 Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus