Notadusta martini (Schepman, 1907)
Martin's cowry, 12-19mm

Notadusta martini has a thin, light shell that always looks slightly immature. This species has an interesting split habitat. It is most common at night at depths of 10-25m in caves formed by overlapping plate corals on certain lagoon pinnacles. It can occasionally be found at night in caves on the seaward reef slope, but only at depths greater than 35m. The animal is very light sensitive, and starts to run away as soon as it is illuminated by a diver's light. It was originally described from several fossil specimens in honor of K. Martin, a Dutch paleontologist. Subsequently it was discovered to still live in the western Pacific from the Marshalls and Tonga through parts of Indonesia and the Philippines.

The mantle is fully extended in the specimen directly below.

The shell is quite thin and the internal organs of the animal can be seen through it.

Created 1 April 2008
Updated 1 August 2010

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