Shell · Genus
Oliva
Olive shells
Olive shells (Oliva) are cylindrical, glossy snails that burrow in sand, in hundreds of colour forms that make them a specialist collecting field; Oliva porphyria, the tent olive of the eastern Pacific, is the showpiece. Pattern and gloss are everything, and specimens are graded on absence of chips at the lip. Fossil olives are common in Florida Pliocene shell beds.
| Habitat | Sand bottoms, intertidal to shelf, tropical and warm temperate |
|---|---|
| Regions | Indo-Pacific, Caribbean, Eastern Pacific, West Africa |
| Family | Olividae |
| Authority (WoRMS) | Bruguière, 1789· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
| Status (WoRMS) | accepted· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
| Extinct (WoRMS) | no· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
| Classification (WoRMS) | Animalia › Mollusca › Gastropoda › Neogastropoda › Olividae· WoRMS / MolluscaBase |
CITES and protection
Not CITES-listed.
Care (Byne's disease)
Highly glossy aragonite; Byne's shows quickly as dull white patches.
Elsewhere
- WoRMS AphiaID: 205393
- Wikidata: Q1602845
- WoRMS / MolluscaBase record
- Wikipedia: Oliva
- CITES Appendices
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "Oliva" (Shell family). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/shells/oliva. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-oliva,
title = {Oliva},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/shells/oliva}},
year = {2026},
note = {Shell family article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, worms, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.