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Cowrie
Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails in the family Cypraeidae. Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used worldwide as shell money. It is most abundant in the Indian Ocean, and was collected in the Maldive Islands, in Sri Lanka, along the Indian Malabar coast, in Borneo and on other East Indian islands, in Maluku in the Pacific, and in various parts of the African coast from Ras Hafun, in Somalia, to Mozambique. Cowrie shell money was important in the trade networks of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. In the United States and Mexico, cowrie species inhabit the waters off Central California to Baja California (the chestnut cowrie is the only cowrie species native to the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of the United States; further south, off the coast of Mexico, Central America and Peru, Little Deer Cowrie habitat can be found; and fur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cypraeidae
Cypraeidae, common name, commonly named the cowries ( cowry or cowrie), is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of small to large sea snails. These are marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, the cowries and cowry allies. Shell description Cypraeidae have adult shells which are very rounded, almost like an egg; they do not look like a typical gastropod shell. Their glossy, polished, ovate-shaped shells have beautiful patterns in a variety of colors. These patterns, combined with minor variations in shell form, have led some conchologists to recognize 60 genera and hundreds of species and subspecies. In virtually all of the species in the family Cypraeidae, the shells are extremely smooth and shiny. This is because in the living animal, the shell is nearly always fully covered with the mantle (mollusc), mantle. The upper surface is typically convex, while the ventral side is flattened. Typically, no spire (mollusc), spire is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shell Money
Shell money is a medium of exchange similar to coin money and other forms of commodity money, and was once commonly used in many parts of the world. Shell money usually consisted of whole or partial sea shells, often worked into beads or otherwise shaped. The use of shells in trade began as direct commodity exchange, the shells having use-value as body ornamentation. The distinction between beads as commodities and beads as money has been the subject of debate among economic anthropologists. Shell money has appeared in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia. The shell most widely used worldwide as currency was the shell of '' Cypraea moneta'', the money cowry. This species is most abundant in the Indian Ocean, and was collected in the Maldive Islands, in Sri Lanka, along the Malabar coast, in Borneo and on other East Indian islands, and in various parts of the African coast from Ras Hafun to Mozambique. Cowry shell money was an important part of the trade networks of Afric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovulidae
Ovulidae, common names the ovulids, cowry allies or false cowries, is a family (biology), family of small to large predatory or parasitic sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Cypraeoidea, the cowries and the cowry allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Ovulidae J. Fleming, 1822. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1747 on 2020-05-25 Distribution The ovulids are a widespread family, occurring mostly in tropical and subtropical waters, with most species in the Indo-West Pacific region. But a few species live in temperate waters. Habitat Ovulids are carnivorous molluscs that feed on polyp (zoology), polyps and tissues of Anthozoa (as do the genera ''Cyphoma'' and ''Pseudocyphoma''). They live on, and eat, soft corals and sea fans, and they are usually regarded as ectoparasites of these Sessility (zoology), sessile colonial organisms, to which they are anchored by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chestnut Cowrie
''Neobernaya spadicea'', common name the chestnut cowrie, is a species of sea snail in the cowrie family, Cypraeidae. Chestnut cowries can be found in the eastern Pacific Ocean, from central California to Baja California. The chestnut cowrie has a highly glossy shell due to an enamel that is secreted from its mantle. Distribution and habitat The chestnut cowrie is the only species of cowrie in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It can be found in intertidal zones from Monterey, California to Isla Cedros, Baja California. It is common in Southern California, specifically around the Channel Islands. Chestnut cowries are rare in the portion of their range that is north of Santa Barbara, California. Chestnut cowries live in kelp beds and rocky surfaces in intertidal The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maldive Islands
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the Asian continent's mainland. The Maldives' chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south. The Maldives is the smallest country in Asia. Its land area is only , but this is spread over roughly of the sea, making it one of the world's most spatially dispersed sovereign states. With a population of 515,132 in the 2022 census, it is the second least populous country in Asia and the ninth-smallest country by area, but also one of the most densely populated countries. The Maldives has an average ground-level elevation of above sea level, and a highest natural point of only , making it the world's lowest-lying country. Some sources state the highest point, Mount Villingili, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central America
Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually defined as consisting of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from southern Mexico to southeastern Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage. Most of Central America falls under the Isthmo-Colombian cultural area. Before the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus' voyages to the Americas, hundreds of indigenous peoples made their homes in the area. From the year 1502 onwards, Spain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central California
Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the U.S. state of California, north of Southern California (which includes Los Angeles and San Diego) and south of Northern California (which includes San Francisco and San Jose, California, San Jose). It includes the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley (which itself is the southern portion of the Central Valley (California), Central Valley, beginning at the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta), part of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast, the central hills of the California Coast Ranges and the foothills and mountain areas of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), central Sierra Nevada. Central California is considered to be west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada. East of the Sierra is Eastern California. The largest cities in the region (over 50,000 population), from most to least populous, are Sacramento, California, Sacramento, Fresno, California, Fresno, Bakersfield, California, Bak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baja California
Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California (). It has an area of (3.57% of the land mass of Mexico) and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north of the 28th parallel, plus oceanic Guadalupe Island. The mainland portion of the state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean; on the east by Sonora, the United States on the north and on the south by Baja California Sur. The state has an estimated population of 3,769,020 as of 2020, significantly higher than the sparsely populated Baja California Sur to the south, and similar to San Diego County, California, and Imperial County, California, to its north. Over 75% of the population lives in Mexicali (the state's capital city), Ensenada, or Tijuana (the state's largest city). Other impo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east. At in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), the Pacific Ocean is the largest division of the World Ocean and the hydrosphere and covers approximately 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of the planet's total surface area, larger than its entire land area ().Pacific Ocean . '' Britannica Concise.'' 2008: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The centers of both the |
Monetaria Moneta
''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, Pacific 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. ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. Peru is a Megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west, to the peaks of the Andes mountains extending from the north to the southeast of the country, to the tropical Amazon basin rainforest in the east with the Amazon River. Peru has Demographics of Peru, a population of over 32 million, and its capital and largest city is Lima. At , Peru is the List of countries and dependencies by area, 19th largest country in the world, and the List of South American countries by area, third largest in South America. Pre-Columbian Peru, Peruvian territory was home to Andean civilizations, several cultures during the ancient and medieval periods, and has one o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrocypraea Cervinetta
''Macrocypraea'' is a genus of large sea snails, cowries, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the family (biology), family Cypraeidae, the cowries. Species Species within the genus ''Macrocypraea'' include: *''Macrocypraea cervinetta'' (Louis Charles Kiener, Kiener, 1843) *''Macrocypraea cervus'' (Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus, 1771) *''Macrocypraea mammoth'' Simone & Cavallari, 2020 *''Macrocypraea zebra'' (Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus, 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 1758) References * Petuch E.J. & Drolshagen M. (2011) Compendium of Florida fossil shells, volume 1. Wellington, Florida: MdM Publishing. 412 pp External links Simone L.R.L. & Cavallari D.C. (2020). A new species of Macrocypraea (Gastropoda, Cypraeidae) from Trindade Island, Brazil, including phenotypic differentiation from remaining congeneric species. PLOS ONE. 15(1): e0225963. Cypraeidae Gastropod genera {{Cypraeidae-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
