Cypraea moneta
Encyclopedia
Monetaria moneta, commonly known as the money cowry, is a species
of small sea snail
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae
, the cowries.
The species is called money cowry because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific
and Indian Ocean
countries as a form of exchange before coinage was in common usage. It is still used in divination rituals by some Africa
n animist tribes.
This is a very common species which is found widely in Indo-Pacific
tropical waters. It is present in numerous regions, including East and South Africa
, Madagascar
, the Red Sea
and the Persian Gulf
, eastern Polynesia
, Galapagos, Clipperton and Cocos
islands off Central America
, southern Japan
, Midway
and Hawaii
, and northern New South Wales
and Lord Howe Island
.
This cowry lives in intertidal rocky areas and shallow tide
pools among sea weed, coral
remains and empty bivalve shell
s. It can be found on and under rocks in shallow water and on exposed reefs at low tide. Like all cowries, it feeds on algae
and marine vegetation growing on loose rocks and pieces of dead coral
.
The shell is small (30 to 45 mm long). It is white to straw-colored, and sometimes has a gold-colored ring around the dorsal area
similar to the gold ring found on the shell of Cypraea annulus (gold-ringed cowry).
in many areas of Africa
, Asia
and the Pacific islands until the late 19th century.It was also traded to Native Americans
by European settlers.
The shell continues to be popular today in jewelry and for decoration of such items as baskets and wall hangings.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of small sea snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae
Cypraeidae
Cypraeidae, common name the cowries , is a taxonomic family of small to large sea snails. These are marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, the cowries and cowry allies.-Shell description:...
, the cowries.
The species is called money cowry because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
countries as a form of exchange before coinage was in common usage. It is still used in divination rituals by some Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n animist tribes.
Subspecies and formae
- Monetaria moneta barthelemyi (f) Bernardi, M., 1861
- Monetaria moneta erosaformis (f)
- Monetaria moneta harrisi (f) Iredale, T., 1939
- Monetaria moneta icterina (f) Lamarck, J.B.P.A. de, 1810
- Monetaria moneta rhomboides (f) Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933
- Monetaria moneta tuberculosa (f) Quoy, J.R.C. & J.P. Gaimard, 1834
Distribution
Indo-Pacific
The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...
tropical waters. It is present in numerous regions, including East and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
, eastern Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
, Galapagos, Clipperton and Cocos
Cocos
Cocos may refer to:* Cocos , a plant genus with the coconut as its only accepted species* Cocos Lagoon, south of Guam* Cocos Malays, an ethnic group inhabiting the Cocos Islands* Cocos Plate, a tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean...
islands off Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, southern Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Midway
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, and northern New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, and about from Norfolk Island. The island is about 11 km long and between 2.8 km and 0.6 km wide with an area of...
.
Habitat
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
pools among sea weed, coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
remains and empty bivalve shell
Bivalve shell
A bivalve shell is part of the body, the exoskeleton or shell, of a bivalve mollusk. In life, the shell of this class of mollusks is composed of two parts, two valves which are hinged together...
s. It can be found on and under rocks in shallow water and on exposed reefs at low tide. Like all cowries, it feeds on algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
and marine vegetation growing on loose rocks and pieces of dead coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
.
Shell description
Dorsum (biology)
In anatomy, the dorsum is the upper side of animals that typically run, fly, or swim in a horizontal position, and the back side of animals that walk upright. In vertebrates the dorsum contains the backbone. The term dorsal refers to anatomical structures that are either situated toward or grow...
similar to the gold ring found on the shell of Cypraea annulus (gold-ringed cowry).
Human uses
Shells of this cowry were commonly used as a medium of exchangeMedium of exchange
A medium of exchange is an intermediary used in trade to avoid the inconveniences of a pure barter system.By contrast, as William Stanley Jevons argued, in a barter system there must be a coincidence of wants before two people can trade – one must want exactly what the other has to offer, when and...
in many areas of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and the Pacific islands until the late 19th century.It was also traded to Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
by European settlers.
The shell continues to be popular today in jewelry and for decoration of such items as baskets and wall hangings.