One Money Cowry Shell measuring up to 1 inch. *****

One Money Cowry Shell, measuring up to 1 inch.

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Monetaria moneta, common name the Money Cowrie

The Money Cowrie, is a species of the small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries

This species is called "money cowrie" because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific and Indian Ocean countries as shell money before coinage was in common usage.(REF: WoRMS : Monetaria moneta)

It is a quite small cowry, up to 3 cm (1.2 in), irregular and flattened, with very calloused edges and roughly subhexagonal. The color is pale (from white to dirty beige), but the dorsum seems transparent, often greenish grey with yellowish margins, with sometimes darker transverse stripes and a delicate yellow ring. The opening is wide and white, with pronounced denticules. The mantle of the live animal is mottled with black and off-white.

The Monetaria moneta shells varies widely in shape and color; resulting in the species having numerous taxonomic synonyms.

The Money Cowry is found across the Indo-Pacific tropical waters. They are present in numerous regions, including East and South Africa, Madagascar, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, Maldives, eastern Polynesia, Galapagos, Clipperton and Cocos islands off Central America, southern Japan, Midway and Hawaii, and northern New South Wales and Lord Howe Island (REF: Poutiers, J. M. (1998). Gastropods).

Money Cowries live in intertidal rocky areas and shallow tide pools among sea weed, coral remains, and empty bivalve shells. It can be found on and under rocks in shallow water and on exposed reefs at low tide. It feeds on algae and marine vegetation growing on loose rocks and pieces of dead coral (REF: Poutiers, J. M. (1998). Gastropods).

Money cowries were commonly used as a medium of exchange in many areas of Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands until the late 19th century (REF: Poutiers, J. M. (1998) Gastropods).

The Maldives provided the main source of cowrie shells, throughout Asia and parts of the East African coast. Huge amounts of Maldivian cowries were introduced into Africa by slave traders.

Money Cowries were also traded to Native Americans by European settlers (REF: Hogendorn, Jan and Johnson Marion: The Shell Money of the Slave Trade. African Studies Series 49, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986).

Scientific classification

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Gastropoda

Subclass: Caenogastropoda

Order: Littorinimorpha

Family: Cypraeidae

Genus: Monetaria

Species: M. moneta

Binomial name: Monetaria Moneta

(Linnaeus, 1758)