Cowry
Monetaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedsnails and slugs
The cowry (Monetaria moneta) is a species in the family Cypraeidae, order Littorinimorpha.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the cowry
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the cowry live?
Not recorded
Is the cowry endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the cowry classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumMollusca
- classGastropoda
- orderLittorinimorpha
- familyCypraeidae
- genusMonetaria
- SpeciesMonetaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Cypraea annulifera, Cypraea barthelemyi, Cypraea circumvallata, Cypraea ethnographica, Cypraea gibbosa, Cypraea icterina, Cypraea mercatorium, Cypraea moneta, Cypraea moneta var. candida, Cypraea monetacongo, Cypraea numisma, Cypraea subalata, Cypraea tuberculosa, Erosaria moneta, Monetaria britannica, Monetaria chionella, Monetaria endua, Monetaria erua, Monetaria ethnographica, Monetaria ethnographica circumvallata, Monetaria etolu, Monetaria harrisi, Monetaria icterina, Monetaria icterina rhomboids, Monetaria isomeres, Monetaria mercatorium, Monetaria moneta, Monetaria moneta endua, Monetaria moneta erua, Monetaria moneta etolu, Monetaria moneta icterina, Monetaria moneta moneta, Monetaria moneta monetserpentis, Monetaria moneta subalata, Monetaria moneta tuberculosa, Monetaria moneta var. annulifera, Monetaria monetoides, Monetaria monetoides harrisi, Monetaria pleuronectes, Monetaria plumaria, Monetaria pseudomoneta, Monetaria rhomboides, Monetaria vestimenti
Other names and names in other languages (21)
- Money cowrieEnglish
- Money cowryEnglish
- zavinutec penízkovýCzech
- GeldkauriGerman
- Porcelaine-monnaieFrench
- Leho 'ualaHawaiian
- פי-כושי אסימוןHebrew
- Ciprea monetaItalian
- キイロダカラJapanese
- 돈개오지Korean
- GeldkaurieDutch
- porcelanka monetkaPolish
- Búzio-moedaPortuguese
- Каури-монетаRussian
- porcelánovec peňažnýSlovak
- หอยเบี้ยจักจั่นThai
- 黃寶螺Chinese
- GeldschneckeGerman
- KaurischneckeGerman
- アフリカキイロダカラJapanese
- Монетария-монетаRussian
Relatives of the cowry
Other species in the same genus Monetaria.
Gold Ringer
Monetaria annulus
Dragon's head cowry
Monetaria caputdraconis
Walled cowrie
Monetaria obvelata
Snake's head cowry
Monetaria caputophidii
Snakehead cowry
Monetaria caputserpentis
CompareCowry vs Gold RingerCowry vs Dragon's head cowryCowry vs Walled cowrieCowry vs Snake's head cowry
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the cowry?
The cowry (Monetaria moneta) belongs to the family Cypraeidae in the order Littorinimorpha.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size · CC0 1.0 · 1.0.7
Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E. et al. (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9: 265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6468938 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products · CC0 1.0 · 0.11
Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference. - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - Palmer Archipelago penguin measurements (Palmer Station LTER) · CC0 1.0 · 0.1.0
Gorman, K.B., Williams, T.D. & Fraser, W.R. (2014) Ecological sexual dimorphism and environmental variability within a community of Antarctic penguins (genus Pygoscelis). PLoS ONE 9(3): e90081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090081. Data: Palmer Station Antarctica LTER, via Horst, A.M., Hill, A.P. & Gorman, K.B. (2020) palmerpenguins. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3960218 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision). - Sex-specific median life expectancies from ex situ populations for 330 animal species · CC BY 4.0 · 2018-07
Che-Castaldo, J.P., Byrne, A., Perišin, K. & Faust, L.J. (2019) Sex-specific median life expectancies from ex situ populations for 330 animal species. Scientific Data 6: 190019. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2019.19. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7539968.v1
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CreatureData. (2026). Cowry (Monetaria moneta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cowry
“Cowry (Monetaria moneta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cowry.
@misc{cowry_2026,
title = {Cowry (Monetaria moneta)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cowry},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}