Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
As is the case in most cowries, the subadult shell of Cypraea tigris has a different color pattern. The apex of the shell is a barely visible tubercule at the top right of the shell image. Roughly egg-shaped and dextral, the glossy shell is large and heavy for a cowry. It measures up to 15 cm (6 in) in length, and the upper or dorsal side is ...
The shells of these quite uncommon cowries reach on average 90–110 millimetres (3.5–4.3 in) of length, with a minimum size of 75 millimetres (3.0 in) and a maximum size of 142 millimetres (5.6 in). They are variable in pattern and color.
Leporicypraea mappa (previously known as Cypraea mappa), common name the map cowry, is a species of large sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. This is considered an economically important species in the Indo-West Pacific , where it is usually collected both for food and for shell trading.
1742 drawing of shells of the money cowrie, Monetaria moneta Cowrie shells The shells of cowries are usually smooth and shiny and more or less egg-shaped. The round side of the shell is called the Dorsal Face, whereas the flat under side is called the Ventral Face, which shows a long, narrow, slit-like opening (), which is often toothed at the edges.
The Marshallese recognized four main ocean swells: the rilib, kaelib, bungdockerik and bundockeing. [2] Navigators focused on effects of islands in blocking swells and generating counterswells to some degree, but they mainly concentrated on refraction of swells as they came in contact with undersea slopes of islands and the bending of swells around islands as they interacted with swells coming ...
The dorsum surface of these smooth and shiny shells is generally pale brown or beige, with a variable pattern of dark brown spots. The base may be pale brown or whitish, the poorly developed teeth are usually white or dark brown, the aperture is long and narrow. In the living cowries mantle and foot are well developed, with external antennae.
Cowrie-shell divination refers to several distinct forms of divination using cowrie shells that are part of the rituals and religious beliefs of certain religions. Though best-documented in West Africa as well as in Afro-American religions, such as Regla de Ocha, Candomblé, and Umbanda, [1] [2] [3] cowrie-shell divination has also been recorded in India, East Africa, and other regions.
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 ...