It is usually an advantage to know the names of the various parts, appendages and portions of the cowry. The image of a Cypraea teres Gmelin at the left has been modified to give some of the names of a cowry's external features. In addition to these commonly seen external parts, there are only two other features visible to the observer of a living cowry. These are:
1.) the proboscis, which contains the radula. The radula is comprised of rows of hard structures called 'teeth' (arranged in a ribbon-like manner and controlled by muscle tissue) used to rasp bits of food from whatever the cowry is feeding on. The image on the front page of Vol I, Num 1 shows an extended proboscis. However, in that instance the foward end of the radula was being used in conjunction with part of the proboscis to pinch (off?) a portion of a rival cowry's foot, thus revealing (possibly for the first time) another mode of operation for this important organ. (See part of the actual video. Visit the Archive site of The Captured Cowry and click on the link in the upper left corner of the second table of links.)
2.) the penis. This appendage is very rarely seen, and even more rarely imaged. This diver has only once seen a pair of cowries (C. teres) actually mating and this sighting confirmed what had been seen in a splendid photograph in Burgess's Cowries of the World. Apparently, the male approaches the receptive female from the posterior end of her shell, presumably following a scent deposited on the surface over which she crawled or possibly detecting compounds in the ocean water near her. Presumably after making contact with her foot or mantle using his tentacles, his penis is extended from an area near his labial tentacle (one might call it the right side), along the labial side of the female to an opening near her labial tentacle. How long the courtship and coupling take is not known to this observer. However, female receptivity is a very important precondition; this researcher has observed what can happen to individual cowries making unwelcomed contact with another cowry. (See last item in Observations & Sightings)