Monetaria annulus
| Monetaria annulus | |
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| View of a shell of Monetaria annulus | |
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| Species: | M. annulus
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| Binomial name | |
| Monetaria annulus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Monetaria annulus, common name the ring cowrie or gold ringer, is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.[1]
Description
The shell size varies between 9 mm and 50 mm
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2010) |
Distribution
This species and its subspecies are distributed in the Red Sea, and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, the Comores, the East Coast of South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Réunion, the Seychelles, Somalia, Yemen, Oman, India, Sri lanka, Mozambique, in the tropical Pacific Ocean as far north as Hawaii and towards the western Pacific reaching the Galápagos islands.
Subspecies
There may be three or more subspecies : Monetaria annulus camelorum, monetaria sublitorea and Monetaria obvelata (Rochebr.)
Use as Shell Money
In parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Monetaria annulus, the ring cowry, so-called because of the bright orange-colored ring on the back or upper side of the shell, was commonly used as shell money much like monetaria moneta. Occasionaly the ring part on its back would be hammered away and make it nearly indistinguishable from other money cowry species.Many specimens were found by Sir Austen Henry Layard in his excavations at Nimrud in 1845-1851. The shell was also introduced to Native Americans during and after the fur trade by European traders as a cheaper substitute [1] for highly treasured Elk ivory[2] dowry and for other use as ornaments.
Images
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monetaria annulus shell -
monetaria annulus -
monetaria annulus -
monetaria annulus bottom view -
monetaria annulus with its back cut off -
monetaria sublitorea may be a subspecies of monetaria annulus -
monetaria obvelata may be a Tahitian subspecies of monetaria annulus -
monetaria annulus shells -
Living monetaria annulus
![[1]](http://images.worthpoint.com/files/144/5cfe496a4ef31f81f5f49e2a29891c04.jpg){kind=link}
References
- ^ a b Monetaria annulus (Linnaeus). WoRMS (2009). Monetaria annulus (Linnaeus). Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=216875 on10 October 2010 .
- ^ http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues02/Co04202002/CO_04202002_Elkteeth_Dress.htm
- 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
