Monetaria moneta, common name the money cowrie, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[ WoRMS : Monetaria moneta; accessed : October 20, 2010]
This species is called "money cowrie" because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean countries as shell money before coinage was in common usage.
Description and characteristics
It is a quite small cowry, up to , 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 shell of Monetaria moneta varies widely in shape and color, with some of these varieties having been described as full species. As a result, this species has numerous taxonomic synonyms.
File:Cypraea moneta mantle expansion 3.jpg|The underside of a live Monetaria moneta with the mantle partially retracted
File:Cypraea moneta mantle expansion.jpg|Same specimen, with mantle withdrawn
File:Cypraeamoneta.jpg|Shell
File:Monetaria Moneta Paravespula.jpg|Dark-backed shell variant
Distribution
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,
Maldives, eastern
Polynesia,
Galapagos, Clipperton and Cocos islands off
Central America, southern
Japan,
Midway Atoll and
Hawaii, and northern New South Wales and Lord Howe Island.
Habitat
This cowrie lives in
intertidal rocky areas and shallow
tide pools among
sea weed,
coral remains, and empty
.
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.
Subspecies and forms
Subspecies:
-
Monetaria moneta icterina (Lamarck, 1810)
-
Monetaria moneta monetserpentis Lorenz, Chiapponi & Mont, 2012
-
Monetaria moneta tuberculosa (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834)
Forms:
-
Monetaria moneta form erosaformis
[ Gastropods.com : Monetaria moneta erosaformis; assessed : October 20, 2010]
-
Monetaria moneta form harrisi Iredale, T., 1939
[ Gastropods.com : Monetaria moneta harrisi; accessed : October 20, 2010]
-
Monetaria moneta form icterina Lamarck, J.B.P.A. de, 1810
[ gastropods.com : Monetaria moneta icterina; accessed : October 20, 2010]
-
Monetaria moneta form rhomboides Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933
[ Gastropods.com : Monetaria moneta rhomboides; accessed : October 20, 2010]
-
Monetaria moneta form tuberculosa Quoy, J.R.C. & J.P. Gaimard, 1834
[ Gastropods.com : Monetaria moneta tuberculosa; accessed : October 20, 2010]
Human uses
The shell is used in
jewelry and in other decorative items such as
baskets and wall hangings.
As money
Shells of this cowrie were commonly used as a medium of exchange
[Poutiers, J. M. (1998). Gastropods in: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/w7191e/w7191e42.pdf Seaweeds, corals, bivalves and gastropods. Rome, FAO, 1998. page 503.] in many areas of
Africa,
Asia and the
Pacific islands until the late 19th century.
The Maldives provided the main source of cowrie shells, throughout Asia and parts of the coast. Huge amounts of Maldivian cowries were introduced into Africa by slave traders.[Hogendorn, Jan and Johnson Marion: The Shell Money of the Slave Trade. African Studies Series 49, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986.]
It was also traded to Native Americans by European settlers.
For divination
The shell is still used in divination rituals in some
religions.
In the State of Kerala, in India, special money cowrie shells (which are known in Malayalam as കവിടി ) are used for divination as part of Hindu astrology, as Prashnam. For Prashnam, 108 shells of Monetaria moneta are rotated a number of times and the blessings of God and one's Guru are invoked. A portion of the Kavadis are separated and counted to find out the ruling planet at that time. The results of the Prasna horoscope (a horoscope formulated at the time of arrival of the persons) are compared with the results of the Prasnam, and the predictions are pronounced on that basis.
-
Verdcourt, B. (1954). The cowries of the East African Coast (Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 22(4) 96: 129-144, 17 pls.
External links
