-40m, Dived, Lamu Island, Kenya, 112.1mm.
The « Lyre-formed Lyria » is a beautiful classic rarity among the volutes endemic to east Africa ranging from Somalia to Mozambique, with majority of specimens coming from Kenya or Somalia. One of S. Peter Dance's fifty « Rare Shells » (1969), it was truly scarce until the mid-20th Century. Today it is still a rare and coveted shell especially in live-taken condition; although a good amount were brought into the market from Somalian and Kenyan fishermen decades ago this seems to have stopped today and most specimens available on the market are from old collection. A carnivorous gastropod inhabiting sandy to muddy bottoms, its bathymetric range is around -10~200m from subtidal to moderately deep water. Typical shell length around 100mm., giant specimens are known to exceed 140mm. Typical of genus Lyria, this species also has a horny operculum but specimens complete with operculum is very rarely seen. Its form is quite variable from the slender and fusiform shown here to a much wider and robust form; the colour is also somewhat variable, for example some specimens only carry various hues of orange.

Type locality: Not given by Swainson.
Range: Well known from southern Somalia (Ras Hafun) to southern Kenya. However, the southern limits of its range remain to be defined since some dwarf specimens are trawled off Pemba (northern Mozambique). The latest findings of shells obviously belonging to the same group in the northern and northeastern parts of the Indian Ocean reveal that L. lyraeformis can be considered part of a widely distributed superspecies from Eastern Africa to Sumatra (see below). Habitat: Lives between 15 and 50 m on muddy sand bottom. Description: Shell is large, elongated, heavy and solid, largest of the genus with some specimens up to 145 mm long. Protoconch is lightbeige coloured of two and a half smooth whorls, large, measuring 3.5 to 4.0 mm in diameter, elongated with an erect calcarella. Spire is high. Teleoconch with 6-7 gently convex whorls with an apressed suture. Sculpture is of variable number of strong axial ribs, ending adapically at the shoulder and leaving an almost smooth subsutural surface. Spiral sculpture of fine spiral grooves visible on the first three whorls, disappearing on the penultimate and last whorls. Aperture is narrow and oblong. Outer lip is simply thickened forming externally an attenuated labial varix. Columella is almost straight bearing three strong columellar plaits, followed posteriorly by 3-6 weak and poorly differenciated folds. Siphonal is notch deep and narrow.
Background colour is beige with three spiral bands of cloudy chestnut blotches limiting two paler bands of variable width on the body whorl overlaid with a pattern of spiral lines interrupted on the intercostal spaces. Aperture and columella are fawn.
Even with today's incomplete knowledge of the species, the authors feel that four geographical races, which may prove to be subspecies, can be separated :
1) Race from Somalia: Mostly small (70-80 mm), with very convex whorls and a short spire giving an obese shape, brown-pink in colour, with 19-20 thick axial ribs on the body whorl.
2) Race from northern Kenya (Lamu island): Larger (100-120 mm) and very elongated, almost narrow, of a dark brick-red colour, with numerous (22-23) fine thin axial ribs.
3) Race from southern Kenya (Shimoni): Capable of attaining a very large size (145 mm), brown in colour, with only 16 thick axial ribs.
4) Race from North Mozambique: A recently discovered population trawled off Pemba Island at 60-80 m deep. All specimens are small (70-80 mm) with rather convex whorls and a short spire resembling the Somalian group, but with 22-23 narrow axial ribs.
Animal: Foot and head are pink beige mottled with numerous black spots.

Comparison: Lyria leslieboschae from Oman bears 6 spiral lirae below the suture and has an outer lip with a long narrow posterior anal canal.
Lyria patbaili from the other side of the Mozambique Channel has a smaller bulbous protoconch without calcarella, less convex postnuclear whorls and a spiral pattern of thicker and less numerous black lines. The two related populations from Pakistan and Sumatra are very similar but seem to differ by some constant features (see below).
Remarks: This is a magnificient Lyria, always highly prized and difficult to obtain, especially in the case of the large southern population. It is caught by chance in local fishermen's nets, most specimens being crabbed. It becomes rarer and rarer now, probably because of anthropic alterations of its rather
shallow hahitat

TYPE: The whereabouts of the type specimen illustrated in Zoological Illustrations is not known to the authors. TYPE LOCALITY: Subsequently designated "East Coast of Africa" by Reeve (1849). Here restricted to waters off Mom- basa, Kenya, east Africa, where a number of live specimens. have recently been dredged. RANGE: Known only from the type locality. HABITAT: Information not available. DIMENSIONS: Adult specimens are 90 to 145 mm in length. SHELL DESCRIPTION: Shell is very large for the genus. It is elongate-fusiform and solid, with a high, pointed spire. Pro- toconch is regularly coiled, of two and a half large, smooth whorls; a short calcarella protrudes from the apex. Teleo- conch has six to six and a half rather convex whorls, indented at the suture. Sculpture consists of fine, closely spaced, re- volving striae on early whorls and strong axial ribs throughout. There are about 17 such ribs on the penultimate whorl of a shell 121 mm in length. Aperture is relatively small, narrow, and oblong; interior is pale orange. Outer lip is simple, somewhat thickened. Siphonal notch is narrow and deep; fasciole weak. The columella is almost straight, with two or three moderately strong anterior plaits (the second being strongest), followed by numerous fine lirae covering the parietal area. Base color is creamy-white, overlaid with bands of bluish-gray, chestnut, and interrupted reddish lines, giving an overall glossy, dark-bluish appearance. Presence of an operculum is unknown. ANIMAL AND RADULA: Not available for study. REMARKS: This species appears to be closely related to Lyria cloveriana Weaver, 1963. Both have a large protoconch with a short calcarella at the apex. This morphological characteris tic separates them from all other living species in the genus. Unfortunately, nothing is known of the soft parts or radula of either species. We are therefore provisionally leaving them in the genus Lyria pending further information.