Dentalium neohexagonum

Dentalium neohexagonum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Scaphopoda
Order:	Dentaliida
Family:	Dentaliidae
Genus:	Dentalium Linnaeus, 1758
Species:	D. neohexagonum
Binomial name
Dentalium neohexagonum Sharp and Pilsbry, 1897

Dentalium neohexagonum is a species of tusk shell, a marine scaphopod mollusk in the family Dentaliidae.^[1] As the Latin name implies, the cross section of this shell is hexagonal; hence its common name is six-sided tusk shell.^[2]

This species occurs along the central and southern California coast of the Pacific Ocean. The shells of this species are known to have been used by the Chumash people at least as early as circa 1000 AD, in the Morro Bay area.^[3] They were used as shell money rather than food.^[4]

See also

• Chumash people

References

1. Turgeon, D.D.; Quinn, Jr, J. F.; Bogan, A. E.; Coan, E. V.; Hochberg,F. G.; Lyons, W. G.; et al. (1998). Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks (HB). American Fisheries Society Special Publication 26 (2nd ed.). Maryland, USA: American Fisheries Society. p. 526. ISBN 1-888569-01-8.
2. C. Michael Hogan (2008). "Los Osos Back Bay". The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
3. "Dentalium neohexagonum". Aug 22, 1998. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
4. http://books.google.com/books?id=jpvrxVA0PGYC&pg=PA91&dq=%22Strongylocentrotus+purpuratus%22+native&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-446UbD_L6mH0QH9p4GYBg&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22Strongylocentrotus%20purpuratus%22%20native&f=false