Home > Invertebrates > Bivalves > Spondylus gloriosus

updated 10/5/2012

Family Spondylidae

HAWAII - ENDEMIC

Spondylus gloriosus 

South Shore, Oahu, 90 feet

 

West Shore, Oahu, 75 feet

 GLORIOUS or CAT'S-TONGUE SPINY OYSTER

Rare on walls & cavern ceilings in deep water.  Spines long and narrow, yellow, orange, or wine.  Attains 4 inches.  Considered endemic to Hawaii, although records exist from offshore islands of the Eastern Pacific, which may be a different species.  Erroneously reported in Hawaii as Spondylus linguaefelis.