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Cypraea moneta
Cypraea moneta
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Latin name: Cypraea moneta Common name: English name Ciprea money: Money Cowrie Class: Gastropoda Family: Cowry Dimensions: 2.8 cm Location where the photos were taken: the peninsula of Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines.
It is the absolute most shell known since the dawn of civilization, and to use money, and ornamental.
Somewhat irregular in shape and color varies from white to yellow and the light green, some specimens show a thin ring that surrounds the ocher-colored back, very similar to that of Cypraea annulus.
Lives in shallow water, almost always hidden under rocks during the day.
It is typical of Indo-Pacific area, and Panama. The Cypraea currency together with the "cousin" Cypraea annulus, known as "cowries" have been used for hundreds of years first as a barter, then as money itself.
Only toward the end of the colonial powers have put "off course" shells used as currency, even if still throughout the twentieth century have continued to be widely used as small change in the markets of the villages.
