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Cowrie Shells
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 furt ...
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Cypraea Chinensis With Fully Extended Mantle
''Cypraea'' is a genus of medium-sized to large sea snails or cowries, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. Species Species within the genus ''Cypraea'' include: * † ''Cypraea ficoides'' (Hutton, 1873) * ''Cypraea pantherina'' Lightfoot, 1786 * † ''Cypraea porcellus'' Brocchi, 1814 * ''Cypraea tigris'' Linnaeus, 1758 ;Nomen dubium: * ''Cypraea contrastriata'' Perry, 1811 (synonyms: ''Arestorides argus contrastriata'' (Perry, 1811); ''Cypraea argus contrastriata'' Perry, 1811; ''Talparia argus contrastriata'' (Perry, 1811) ) Synonyms Almost all species previously belonging to ''Cypraea'' have been reassigned to other genera within the family Cypraeidae: * ''Cypraea achatidea'' Sowerby, 1837: synonym of ''Schilderia achatidea'' * ''Cypraea acicularis'' Gmelin, 1791: synonym of ''Erosaria acicularis'' * ''Cypraea aenigma'' Lorenz, 2002: synonym of ''Nesiocypraea aenigma'' * ''Cypraea albuginosa'' Gray, 1825: synonym of ''Erosaria albuginosa'' * ...
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East Asia
East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Japan, Japan, Economy of South Korea, South Korea, and Economy of Taiwan, Taiwan are among the world's largest and most prosperous. East Asia borders North Asia to the north, Southeast Asia to the south, South Asia to the southwest, and Central Asia to the west. To its east is the Pacific Ocean. East Asia, especially History of China, Chinese civilization, is regarded as one of the earliest Cradle of civilization#China, cradles of civilization. Other ancient civilizations in East Asia that still exist as independent countries in the present day include the History of Japan, Japanese, History of Korea, Korean, and History of Mongolia, Mongolian civilizations. Various other civilizations existed as independent polities in East Asia in the past ...
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Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ..., and affiliated with Columbia University. Founded in 1893, it is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology, religion, film, and international studies. History Columbia University Press was founded in May 1893. In 1933, the first four volumes of the ''History of the State of New York'' were published. In the early 1940s, the Press' revenues rose, partially thanks to the ''Encyclopedia'' and the government's purchase of 12,500 copies for use by the military. Columbia University Press is notable for publishing r ...
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ..., the encyclopedia underwent major revisions in 1950 and 1963; the current edition is the sixth, printed in 2000. It contains over 51,000 articles totaling some 6.5 million words and has also been published in two volumes. An electronic version of the encyclopedia is available, and the ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is licensed by several different companies for use over the Internet. See also *'' Lincoln Library of Essential Information'' * Lists of encyclopedias * List of online encyclopedias Referenc ...
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Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and the southern portion of the East Coast of the United States, Eastern United States. The region includes a core of states that reaches north to Maryland and West Virginia, bordering the Ohio River and Mason–Dixon line, and stretches west to Arkansas and Louisiana. There is no official Federal government of the United States, U.S. government definition for the region, and it is defined variably among agencies and organizations. History The history of the present-day Southeastern United States dates to the dawn of civilization in approximately 11,000 BC or 13,000 BC. The earliest artifacts from the region were from the Clovis culture. Prior to the arrival of Colonial history of the United States, European colonialists, Native Americans in ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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



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 ...
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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 ...
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