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  • José H. Leal

Shell of the Week: The Little White Trivia

Trivia candidula is a marine gastropod of the family Triviidae, the false cowries, or trivias. It reaches about 8 mm (about 0.32 inch), and has a pure white color and a typical shell sculpture of strong ribs that surround the entire shell. The spaces between the ribs are smooth. Generally speaking, trivias feed on sea squirts and colonial ascidians, but the exact feeding habits of the Little White Trivia are unknown. The species has a very broad distribution in the Atlantic Ocean: it is found in the US from North Carolina through the Keys and Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and south to southeastern Brazil; the Little White Trivia is also found in the oceanic islands of the central Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and North Atlantic coast of Europe!


Trivia candidula, from off Boca Grande, Florida. Illustration created by James F. Kelly for the Museum’s Digital Imaging Project.
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