Image of ring cowrie

Description:

This is a strange find. Cypraea (Cowries) are completely out of range here. This is a very worn specimen, but it does not have the elongated shape of a California Cowrie (Zonaria spadicea), which is found from Monterey south and rare north of Point Conception. The shape looks more similar to that of Cypraea found in Hawaii and other parts of the world. Could this individual have drifted across the ocean attached to some piece of flotsam? It isn't drilled in the right place to have been used in jewelry. The hole, with its irregular edges, is not machine made, either. I found it in the drift line mixed with all the other shells and shell fragments. I wish it could talk to tell it's story of how it ended up washed ashore on a California Beach.