Monetaria moneta

Money cowrie
Live animal, with mantle visible
Five views of a shell of Monetaria moneta
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Littorinimorpha
Family:	Cypraeidae
Genus:	Monetaria
Species:	M. moneta
Binomial name
Monetaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms[1][2]
Cypraea annulifera (Coen, 1949) Cypraea barthelemyi Bernardi, 1861 Cypraea circumvallata (M. Schilder & F. A. Schilder, 1933) (Synonym) Cypraea gibbosa Schröter, 1804 Cypraea mercatorium (Rochebrunne, 1884) Cypraea moneta Linnaeus, 1758 (basionym) Cypraea monetacongo Gmelin, J.F., 1791 Cypraea numisma Röding, P.F., 1798 Cypraea gibbosa Schröter, J.S., 1804 Cypraea marginata Kiesenwetter, 1872 Erosaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758) Erosaria monetoides Iredale, T., 1939 Monetaria britannica Schilder, F.A., 1927 Monetaria bulgarica Kojumdgieva, E., 1960 Monetaria chionella Sulliotti, G.R., 1924 Monetaria ethnographica Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria ethnographica circumvallata Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933 Monetaria etolu Steadman & Cotton, 1943 Monetaria harrisi Iredale, 1939 Monetaria icterina (Lamarck, 1810) Monetaria isomeres Iredale, T., 1939 Monetaria mercatorium Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria pleuronectes Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria plumaria Rochebrune, 1884 Monetaria pseudomoneta C.-H. Hu, 1992 Monetaria rhomboides Schilder & Schilder, 1933 Monetaria vestimenti Rochebrune, A.-T. de, 1884 Monetaria moneta subalata (f) Schilder, F.A. & M. Schilder, 1933 Monetaria moneta endua Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943 Monetaria moneta erua Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943 Monetaria moneta etolu Steadman, W.R. & B.C. Cotton, 1943

Monetaria moneta, common name the money cowrie, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.^[1]

This species is called "money cowrie" because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific and Indian Ocean countries as shell money before coinage was in common usage.