Latiaxis mawae

Common name: Mawe’s Latiaxis 

Class: Gastropoda Subclass: Caenogastropoda Order: Neogastropoda Superfamily: Muricoidea Family: Muricidae Subfamily: Coralliophilidae Genus: Latiaxis

Author: Griffith & Pidgeon, 1834

Latiaxis mawaea  is a distinctive shell with a flattened apex and a body whorl that uncoils and is a parasitic shell on hard corals. The shell color is commonly white to cream, but may be pink, orange or purple with a white aperture. The size of the Latiaxis mawaea range from 19 to 70 mm. Has a distribution from Japan to Northeastern Australia, where is locally common in deep waters (50 to 200m depth) on sandy mud bottoms and coral reefs.