tutufa bubo

[underwaterdream]

Can someone tell me how to recognize a male from a female tutufa bubo.

I was also wondering about the orange mouth. Some specimen have a very orange mouth, other are very white. Is that just a question of variation within the species, or location related or sexe related ?  :-\ ...

[paul monfils]

I'm not aware that there are any sex-specific differences in the species.  The white mouth is supposed to be an immature characteristic.  As they get older, the mouth gets more pink, and in completely mature ones the deep interior darkens to orange.  Or so they say!

[underwaterdream]

Thanks a lot Paul,

Very useful answer about the color !

About the "gender" issue, my wondering came from that seashell dealers on internet are selling tutufa bubo specifying male or female, so I was wondering how they could tell and why this was supposed to make a difference. Obviously the answer is not so obvious...