#cyphoma

Flamingo Tongue Snail (Cyphoma gibbosum), family Ovulidae, found off the coast of the SE United States and around the Caribbean

Feeds on the tissues of live soft corals.

A flamingo tongue snail (Cyphoma gibbosum) on a purple sea fan in the Arcadin Islands, Haiti.

The beautiful flamingo tongue snail! 

Cyphoma gibbosum

Fingerprint Flamingo Tongue - Cyphoma signatum

What is shown in the photo is a beautiful and rare sea snail commonly known as Fingerprint Flamingo Tongue, belonging to the species Cyphoma signatum (Gastropoda - Ovulidae). 

This snail is best known for the shell, rather than the animal itself. In fact, in the photo is not possible to observe the shell, since the mantle of the animal is completely covering it, displaying the beautiful pattern of yellow stripes bordered in brown that characterizes the species.

Cyphoma signatum is a trophic specialist on gorgonians Plexaurella spp. Unlike its generalist congener C. gibbous (the Flamingo Tongue snail), the Fingerprint Flamingo Tongue has received relatively little attention, in large part because it has been found too rarely for in-depth studies.

Rarity of C. signatum is likely to be a result, primarily, of habitat specificity, as the snail appears to be a trophic specialist on Plexaurella spp. and the frequency and location of that gorgonian genus must to some extent determine its predator's distribution [1].

Currently this species is known to occur in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea [2].