Largest cowry

The world's largest species of cowry is the Atlantic deer cowry Macrocypraea cervus, which can attain a total length of up to 190.5 mm. It is most widely distributed in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, especially the Caribbean Sea, and also off South Carolina, Florida, Mexico and Brazil. In the adult, its shell is pale brown in colour, dappled with white spots (so that it resembles a young deer, hence its name), and is also overlain with a few transverse, semi-transparent bands. The spots are lacking in juveniles.

The little deer cowry M. cervinetta is superficially similar to this species in shell colouration and markings, but is much smaller, hence its "little deer" name.

Certain other cowries are notably large, including the tiger cowry Cypraea tigris and the highly collectable golden cowry Lyncina aurantium, but they do not normally exceed 150 mm (slightly less in the golden cowry).