Galeolella carneola
Distribution: Western Indo-Pacific realm. Andaman province (Andaman Islands). Central Indo-Pacific realm. Western Coral Triangle province. Eastern Philippines ecoregion (Philippines). Halmahera ecoregion (N Moluccas). Banda Sea ecoregion (S Moluccas). Lesser Sunda ecoregion (Bali, Indonesia). Eastern Coral Triangle province (New Britain, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands). Tropical Southwestern Pacific province (Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia) South Kuroshio province. Northeast Australian Shelf province (Queensland, Australia). Eastern Indo-Pacific realm. Marshall, Gilbert, and Ellis Islands province (Kwajalein). Kii peninsula, Japan, southward (Okutani, 2000).
It is a valid species for all contemporary authors.
RV 0409. New Caledonia, South Province, l'Ile-des-Pins municipality, Ile des Pins. Scale bar is 1 cm.
"The Marau people of southern Guadalcanal make a completely different form of shell money, called ‘hikahika.’ It is still sometimes used to ‘buy’ a bride, or to buy property. As westerners might say, “time is money,” and it is the time required to create these pieces that translates into their value. Oliva carneola (Gmelin, 1791) are painstakingly ground down, one at a time, to form small ‘cylinders’ that can be strung on a cord. The ‘spacers’ are made from turtle shell.".
