Money cowry
Monetaria moneta
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 216874, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Money cowry
- Scientific
- Monetaria moneta
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Cowries
- Family
- Cypraeidae (cowries)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 4.5 cm (shell length)
- Depth and habitat
- Sea floor (benthic), recorded from 0 to 70 m
- IUCN status
- NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)
Description
The money cowry is a small, thick cowrie, usually 1.5 to 3 cm long, with a pale yellow to cream shell, flattened edges and a few low knobs. It lives in very shallow water on reef flats and among rocks, and is common in the intertidal zone.
In the Maldives
For centuries the Maldives was the main source of money cowries for a trade network that reached Africa, India and China, where the shells were used as currency. Collecting cowries for export was a significant Maldivian industry into the twentieth century. Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=79); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=74, 29 observers).
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Monetaria-moneta.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=216874
- inaturalist.org /taxa/328541
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Cypraea_moneta_mantle_expansion_3.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.