Cyprian tigris. beautiful shells

Tiger cypraeum or cypraea tigris is a gastropod mollusk from the genus cypraeus. It lives both in shallow areas of coral reefs and is found at a depth of more than 30 meters. Cypreya is not dangerous to humans. Tiger Kauri are carnivorous and eat sponges and soft corals. They feed at night. It is mainly nocturnal, and during the day it hides under corals or rocks. Getting out of its shell, the mollusk completely envelops it, which prevents growths of algae and other organisms from gaining a foothold on its surface, unlike many other mollusks that do not possess this. Thanks to this, the surface of the sink is always perfectly polished and pleases the eye with its unique pattern. Unfortunately, this was the reason that since ancient times, people have used the shells of cypriae for their own purposes. Jewelry, souvenirs, dishes - to this day are made from the shells of these mollusks in many countries, sometimes in construction, where there are a lot of them, they are used as lime.
3,500 years ago in China, cypress shells began to be used as money. Later this currency came to Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, Philippines. In the XII-XIV centuries, this money was also in circulation in Russia, as well as river pearls, which were exchanged in buckets.
When diving in Bali, be sure to ask your guide to show you the cypraea tigris. Believe me, in its habitat, this delightful mollusk is many times more beautiful than its shell on the shelf of a gift shop.
In the Hawaiian Islands indigenous people used tiger cypraeas as bait when catching octopuses, and also as a valuable food product. Scrapers were made from their shells for peeling tree bark and scraping coconuts.
In pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, in many wealthy houses, it was fashionable to use the shells of this mollusk as a knob for a door handle.
Decorative shell carving tiger fireweed very popular today.
Tiger shells are one of the most common souvenirs brought by vacationers from resorts. Black Sea coast, and from the port cities of the Mediterranean and East Africa.Often the shells of this mollusk are decorated with artistic carvings - carved figures are the most popular. Cyprian shells were used to decorate the ritual masks and necklaces of the peoples of Africa, they were used to encrust weapons and shields. animals, signs of the zodiac, or inscriptions denoting the name of resort towns.
Incredibly beautiful egg-shaped Tiger Kauri shell. The shell surface is smooth and glossy. The background color is light beige with brown or blackish round spots. Aperture narrow with teeth along the edges. Cyprian tigris clams are popular for decorating aquariums. Shells of Tiger Cyprians are often used for collecting and for interior decoration purposes. These shells used to be used to make doorknobs. Their inner layer is of a very beautiful purple hue, and therefore Cypraea Tigris shells are often used for carving and creating cameos in jewelry for court ladies and rich beauties. In Tanzania, these shells are used for witchcraft. In Europe, it is customary to give Tiger Cowry shells engraved with a cross to daughters as gifts. wedding gift, it is believed that they are an amulet against infertility.
In Azerbaijan, cowries were also used as money. in Russia, in the so-called coinless period, kauri also served as money and were called "zhovok", "millstones", "snake heads". In Siberia, they retained the functions of money. Cowrie shells are often found during excavations in the Novgorod and Pskov lands in burials. They were found during excavations of prehistoric settlements near Ghent, in the Gallo-Roman necropolises of Monterosato, in Pompeii, in the Vinnitsa region, near the village of Kosanovo, in the burials of the so-called Chernyakhovsky culture (II-V centuries AD) of these beauties - Tiger cyprians and cones
in abundance can often be seen in the paintings of the Dutch, Germans, and are used by all Europeans. The shells of this mollusk were used by man by all Europeans in antiquity. Tibetans make medicine from shells by burning white cowrie shells, and festering wounds are treated with this ashes, sprinkling shell ashes on them, and then washing them with saffron decoction.

* Ast Balthasar Still life with Nautilus and small shells. In some countries great amount the shells of this mollusk are burnt into lime

Reviews

Interesting and informative story, Olga! Probably, in general, all shells are very beautiful. But how many creatures a man exterminated, for the sake of jewelry, fur, different substances, and sometimes just out of hunting interest ...
With warmth and the most good wishes, Alexander.

Thanks for the feedback, Sasha! That's for sure! A man leaves behind a desert ... A huge number of shells were destroyed in order to get the dye purple - these are murexes ...
Of course, all shells are beautiful. Olga

Found during excavations prehistoric

pit settlements near Ghent,in the Gallo-Romanesque necropolises of Monterosato,

in Pompeii, in the Vinnitsa region, near the village of Kosanovo,in the burials of the so-called Chernyakhov culture (V-II centuries BC)

And in some European countries the custom has survived to this day to give tigris to daughters at the wedding of Tsipreywith a cross engraved on it, like an amulet against infertility. The gift is accompanied by wishes that the daughters and their husbands gave their parents many grandchildren.And another guess dawned after one of the visitorsof our home museum, a hydrobiologist from Kyiv A.P. Cossack, I recognized the same tigris in the spring sink what was an obligatory attribute of Moldovan gypsies. They called it geok, they put it in their earpretending to listen to what is coming from the shell, and on this basis, they predicted the fate of everyone. Of course, given that, according toexperts in information theory,white noise (for example, the sound of the sea;it also includes sounds coming fromfrom the mouth of the shell) contains all the information present in our universe, thenGypsies clearly had plenty to choose from in their predictions!...

But seriously, maybe this is the key to one of the reasons why our ancestors carried these exotic Tsiprey to all ends of the then civilized world?... the tiger is found all overshallow waters of the Indian and western partsPacific Ocean. In the Red Sea she is so commonthat in some places a huge number of their shells are burnt into lime ...On the other hand, I was told that in pre-revolutionary Petersburg, in many wealthy houses, it was fashionable cyprus tigris to use as a knob for a doorknob. And one ofthe most common souvenirs and then,and now (I saw it with my own eyes in Naples) in the port cities of the Mediterranean and East Africa, shells of Cypraea tigris with a pattern carved on top are served(some kind of palm tree, for example) and the inscription(e.g. Hello from Naples) ...

... Hawaiians are good at distinguishing different types cypreus. Such large species like mauritius mauritiana (leho-ahi) and(leho-kiko) were used as bait when catching octopuses and, by the way, were eaten themselves. Scrapers were also made from them.for peeling the bark in the manufacture of the locally very widely used taro dish and scraping out the coconut... "

From the book of Burukovsky R.N. "O chёm shells sing", 1977 ...

The most common shell in souvenirs

"...Often shells have an atypical coloring, which is not a deviation or a rarity. The shells of this species vary greatly in size, shape and color, hence the huge number of synonyms. For sale, the same species is described for speculative purposes by little-known synonyms or incomprehensible forms - "golden", "leopard", "non-hot", "jaguar", for example Cypraea tigris camelopardis or Cypraea tigris aurantius, or synonyms - Cypraea feminea (Gmelin, J.F., 1791), Cypraea nigrescens (Gray, J.E., 1824), Cypraea fuscoapicata (Coen, G.S., 1949)

Basically, all synonyms for the name of the mollusk appeared precisely as a result of the colossal variability in color and size of the shell. But after the development of genetics, everything fell into place and the "new species" described by prominent scientists were not abolished, but remained in memory of the works of the remarkable biologists of the past.

Souvenirs often contain beautiful lilac large and not very large cypraeas - and so. These are usually tigris, or widespread kaptudserpentis, with a peeled, cut and sanded top layer ... In principle, there are no purple, lilac cypraeas :) heat treatment acquiring a beautiful "golden color" :) and sold to naive comrades as a "rare variety" or " the new kind" :) In nature, there are "golden" specimens - they are really rare. But even an experienced collector will not be able to distinguish a fake from a real shell. Here - either catch it for yourself .. or take the word of very large authorities ..."

Details with photos on the website of Evgeny Timoshenko - http://shellsandsnails.info/

Description

The dimensions of the sink are 42-153 mm. The shell is large, involute, spherical-oval in shape. The general coloration is variable. The dorsal surface is white with dark brown or black spots, the size and location of which varies. sink base white color, has pronounced teeth on the outer lip, as well as short teeth on the columella.

The mantle of the mollusk consists of translucent black and gray areas, mottled with the thinnest stripes, with thick, slightly branched, white papillae at the ends.

area

Tropical Indo-Pacific region. From Australia to the Philippines, further along the east coast of Africa, including the waters near Madagascar.

Species biology

Human use

The shells of this mollusk have been used by man since ancient times. They were found during excavations of prehistoric settlements near Ghent, in the Gallo-Roman necropolises of Monterosato, in Pompeii, in the Vinnitsa region, near the village of Kosanovo, in the burials of the so-called Chernyakhov culture (II-V centuries AD).

In the Hawaiian Islands, the indigenous people used tiger cypraeas as bait when fishing for octopuses, as well as a valuable food item. Scrapers were made from their shells for peeling tree bark and scraping coconuts.

In some countries, a huge number of shells of this mollusk are burnt into lime.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Tiger Cyprian

- Well, honey? No, brother, my pink charm, and Dunyasha's name is ... - But, looking at Rostov's face, Ilyin fell silent. He saw that his hero and commander were in a completely different line of thought.
Rostov looked angrily at Ilyin and, without answering him, quickly walked towards the village.
- I'll show them, I'll ask them, the robbers! he said to himself.
Alpatych with a floating step, so as not to run, barely caught up with Rostov at a trot.
- What decision would you like to make? he said, catching up with him.
Rostov stopped and, clenching his fists, suddenly moved menacingly towards Alpatych.
– Decision? What's the solution? Old bastard! he shouted at him. - What were you watching? BUT? The men are rioting, and you can't handle it? You yourself are a traitor. I know you, I'll skin everyone... - And, as if afraid to waste his ardor in vain, he left Alpatych and quickly went forward. Alpatych, suppressing the feeling of insult, kept up with Rostov with a floating step and continued to tell him his thoughts. He said that the peasants were stagnant, that at the present moment it was imprudent to oppose them without having a military team, that it would not be better to send for a team first.
“I will give them a military command ... I will oppose them,” Nikolai said senselessly, choking on unreasonable animal malice and the need to vent this anger. Not realizing what he would do, unconsciously, with a quick, decisive step, he moved towards the crowd. And the closer he moved to her, the more Alpatych felt that his imprudent act could produce good results. The peasants of the crowd felt the same way, looking at his quick and firm gait and his determined, frowning face.
After the hussars entered the village and Rostov went to the princess, confusion and discord occurred in the crowd. Some peasants began to say that these newcomers were Russians and no matter how offended they were by not letting the young lady out. Drone was of the same opinion; but as soon as he expressed it, Karp and other peasants attacked the former headman.
- How many years have you eaten the world? Karp shouted at him. - You don't care! You will dig a little egg, take it away, what do you want, ruin our houses, or not?
- It is said that there should be order, no one should go from the houses, so as not to take out a blue gunpowder - that's it! shouted another.
“There was a queue for your son, and you must have felt sorry for your baldness,” the little old man suddenly spoke quickly, attacking Dron, “but he shaved my Vanka. Oh, let's die!
- Then we will die!
“I am not a refuser from the world,” said Dron.
- That’s not a refuser, he has grown a belly! ..
Two long men were talking. As soon as Rostov, accompanied by Ilyin, Lavrushka and Alpatych, approached the crowd, Karp, putting his fingers behind his sash, smiling slightly, stepped forward. The drone, on the contrary, went into the back rows, and the crowd moved closer.
- Hey! who is your elder here? - shouted Rostov, quickly approaching the crowd.
- Is that the elder? What do you want? .. – asked Karp. But before he had time to finish, his hat fell off him and his head jerked to one side from a strong blow.

Cypraeidae family (Cypraeidae)

The family of cypreidae, or porcelain snails, includes a large number of types. Young snails have a thin shell "traditional" for gastropods forms - with a small curl and a wide mouth without teeth. In an adult snail, the last whorl of the shell completely covers the previous ones, as a result, it acquires a peculiar ovoid shape. In a calm state, the mantle covers the entire or almost the entire surface of the shell. A disturbed snail removes the mantle at the mouth. Aperture narrow, slit-like, with teeth along the edges.

This family has been little studied. They live mainly on sandy soil. There are both predatory and feeding on unicellular algae and detritus species. Most are shallow water species. Distributed in tropical seas, the northern limit of distribution is the Mediterranean Sea.

Cyprian or cowrie shells have been known in Europe for a long time. Also in prehistoric times people used them for jewelry. When in the XIII century Marco Polo brought from China chinaware, his compatriots decided that the Chinese made it somehow from cowrie shells, which were called in Europe by different peoples"porcellan", "porcelletta", etc. Porcelain is also called now in these countries. Snails are also remarkable because they were used in many countries as money. For the first time as a means of payment cowries began to be used in China two thousand years BC. From there they penetrated into India, Korea and Japan. In the XII-XIV centuries, kauri even reached Russia. Here they were called "zhovka", "beetle", "millstone" and "snake head". They were found in the burials of Novgorod and Pskov, as well as in treasures, along with Arab dirhams and Western European denarii. In the custom of artisans throughout Western Europe it was to sheathe aprons with these shells. In Africa, kauri has been widely used by European merchants since the 17th century. They loaded their ships to the top with shells and carried them from the countries of the East to Africa.

Cyprian coin (Cypraea moneta) is distributed over a vast territory of the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is this mass species, together with Cypraea annulus for a long time used as a means of payment, which is reflected in the name. Coloring, depending on habitat conditions, varies from white to golden yellow. The shape of the shell is also variable.

In the northwest of the Novgorod lands, temporal rings with these shells were found in more than 140 burials. In Arabic, Monetaria coin is called "wad", or donkey shell. She was decorated with a harness to protect a horse, camel, donkey or other livestock from the evil eye. According to one of the hypotheses, the name of the horse in fairy tales "prophetic kaurka" is associated precisely with the ancient custom to richly decorate horse harness with cowrie shells.

Cypraea moneta belongs to the small cypraeas. The size of this shell is about 2 cm.

While in Central and West Africa the Monetaria coin was in circulation, on the east coast of Africa the Monetaria annulus was in circulation, however, not as a means of payment, but as an ornament.

In the middle of the 19th century, French and Hamburg merchants introduced Monetaria annulus to Guinea, and with unexpected success. According to Beckmans (1793), while the Dutch held Ceylon, it was important place warehousing kauri before shipping to Guinea. Shells were sent in bales of 12,000 pieces or barrels. And such a bale cost only 3 Dutch riksdaler. In the 19th century alone, at least 75 billion shells weighing 115,000 tons were imported into West Africa. If it were possible to lay these shells in a row along the equator, he would circumnavigate the Earth thirty-seven times! Continuous importation could not but cause "inflation", and by the beginning of the 20th century, kauri lost their role as a means of payment.

Kauri was even quite officially compared with the European currency. So, in German Cameroon, 100 cowries were equal to 1 pfenning, in England in 1800 1 pound of cowries (453 g) cost 1 shilling, and in 1946 in Nigeria 28,800 cowries were equal to 1 pound sterling. In 1850, in Sudan, one cowrie could buy a handful of beans or one bulb.

Top row left: Cypraea argus or ocellated (Cypraea argus, right: Cypraea mappa).

Bottom row: Cypraea mauritiana, Cypraea talpa, Cypraea tigris

Shell Cypreae mappa (Cypreae mappa) resembles geographical map, which is reflected in its name: "mappa" in Latin means "map". A long branched strip stretching along the shell resembles a river bed. The base of the shell is pale purple and the teeth are orange or yellowish. The mollusk lives among corals in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. The sink does not exceed 90 mm.

Cypraea tigris (Cypraea tigris) is one of the most common Indo-Pacific cypresses. Its spotted coloring bears little resemblance to a tiger, so the name given by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century is not entirely clear. The tiger cypriea is a highly variable species. The length of the shells of adult molluscs ranges from 40 to 110 mm. It lives in shallow areas of coral reefs, at a depth of 10-40 meters. It prefers sandy soil, and is also found in areas of underwater rocks and cliffs with thickets of seaweed. The mollusk is nocturnal. It feeds on seaweed, which it scrapes off with the help of a radula, as well as sponges and bryozoans.

The shells of this mollusk have been used by man since ancient times. Cyprian tigris was found during excavations of prehistoric settlements near Ghent, in the Gallo-Roman necropolises of Monterosato, in Pompeii, in the Vinnitsa region near the village of Kosanovo in burial places of the 5th-2nd centuries BC. e. In pre-revolutionary Petersburg, it was fashionable in wealthy houses to use the shells of this mollusk as a doorknob knob.

This is one of the rare and expensive cypriae. The first golden kauri, also known as "porcelain of the rising sun", was acquired from the natives of Tahiti during Cook's second voyage in 1772-75. The natives used it as a ritual decoration and were very reluctant to part with it, setting a high price in the exchange.

Shell sizes 4 - 5.5 cm. Lives at a depth of 3 - 30 m. Active at dusk and at night. This is a small elongated kauri, widespread in Indian and Pacific Oceans. The mantle of the mollusk is black, smooth. The shell owes its name to the color of the dorsal surface: black strokes and dots are located on a gray or brownish background. In the 18th century, this color was called “color isabelle”, in honor of Princess Isabella, daughter of Philip II, wife of the Stadtholder of the Netherlands. The princess frivolously vowed not to change her linen until her husband, Duke Albrecht, returned from a campaign against Ostend. The siege of the rebellious city lasted three years.

On right: Onyx cypriea (Cypraea onyx)

Kauri sieve (Cypraea cribraria)

by local collector

2-4 meters

Tambouili ​​resort, east coast of Mactan island, central Philippines

Found at a depth of 2-4 meters off the east coast of Mactan Island, central Philippines

Kauri sieve (Cypraea cribraria) is somewhat reminiscent of a ladybug.Dimensions 3 - 4.2 cm. Lives at a depth of 3 - 30 m. This small kauri lives in the western part indian ocean. The shell is very beautifully colored with distinct white spots on a pink or brown background.