Talostolida teres, common name the tapering cowry, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Recognized subspecies within this species are:
The shells of these quite common cowries reach on average 25- of length, with a minimum size of and a maximum size of . They are very variable in pattern and colour. The shape may be cylindrical or sub-cylindrical. The dorsum surface is smooth and shiny, the basic color is whitish, greenish or pale brown, with irregular dark brown patches, sometimes forming two-three transversal bands. The surface may also be completely grey-greenish. The margins are white or pale brown, with some dark dots and a pronounced labial 'callus'. The base is white or pinkish with fine short teeth. In the living cowries mantle is orange-reddish, with white sensorial papillae. Mantle and foot are well developed, with external antennae.
This species and the subspecies occur widely in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean off East Africa and South Africa (Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania) and in Western and Eastern Pacific Ocean along Western Australia, Philippines, Bali, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Fiji, Taiwan and Hawaii.[1] The subspecies Blasicrura teres pellucens (Melvill, 1888) reach Galapagos and Panama.
These cowries live on rocks or under corals in the intertidal zone.