Monetaria moneta

Money cowry
Live animal, with mantle visible
Five views of a shell of Monetaria moneta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Littorinimorpha
Superfamily:	Cypraeoidea
Family:	Cypraeidae
Genus:	Monetaria
Species:	M. moneta
Binomial name
Monetaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Monetaria monetacongo Gmelin, J.F., 1791 Cypraea moneta Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym) Cypraea numisma Röding, P.F., 1798 Cypraea gibbosa Schröter, J.S., 1804 Cypraea marginata Kiesenwetter, 1872 Monetaria ethnographica Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria mercatorium Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria pleuronectes Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria vestimenti Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria chionella Sulliotti, G.R., 1924 Monetaria britannica Schilder, F.A., 1927 Monetaria candida Dautzenberg, Ph. & J.L. Bouge, 1933 Monetaria circumvallata Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933 Monetaria ethnographica circumvallata Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933 Monetaria moneta subalata (f) Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933 Monetaria isomeres Iredale, T., 1939 Erosaria monetoides Iredale, T., 1939 Monetaria moneta endua Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943 Monetaria moneta erua Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943 Monetaria moneta etolu Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943 Cypraea annulifera Coen, G.S., 1949 Monetaria bulgarica Kojumdgieva, E., 1960

Monetaria moneta, common name the money cowry, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

This species is called "money cowry" because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific and Indian Ocean countries as shell money before coinage was in common usage.

It is a quite small porcelain, 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 strips and a fine yellow ring. The opening is wide and white, with pronounced denticules. The mantle of the live animal is mottled with black and dirty white.

The underside of a live Monetaria moneta with the mantle partially retracted

Same specimen, with mantle withdrawn

Shell

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 and Hawaii, and northern New South Wales and Lord Howe Island.

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Wikipedia