Conus textile | |
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A live individual of Conus textile, head end towards the right | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
(unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda |
Superfamily: | Conoidea |
Family: | Conidae |
Genus: | Conus |
Species: | C. textile |
Binomial name | |
Conus textile Linnaeus, 1758 |
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Synonyms[1] | |
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Conus textile, common name the cloth of gold cone[2] is a venomous species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails, cone shells or cones. The species is extremely dangerous to humans.
Contents |
C. textile lives in the waters of the Red Sea, Indo-Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, the Indian Ocean from eastern Africa to Hawaii, and French Polynesia.[3]
Subspecies:
Typical length of adults is about 9 cm to 10 cm (3.5 in to 3.9 in).[1] The maximum shell length for this species is 15 cm (5.9 in).[4] The color pattern of its shell resembles a cellular automaton named rule 30. The color of the shell is yellowish brown, with undulating longitudinal lines of chocolate, interrupted by triangular white spaces. These last are irregularly disposed, but crowded at the shoulder, base and middle so as to form bands. The spire is similarly marked. The aperture is white. [5]
The female lays several hundred eggs at a time, which hatch after about 16 or 17 days. After hatching, the larvae float around in the current for approximately 16 days. Afterward, they settle at the bottom of the ocean. By this point their length is about 1.5 mm (0.06 in).[6]
C. textile is a carnivorous species, and uses a radula (a biological microscopic needle) to inject a conotoxin to kill its prey. The proboscis, the tip of which holds the harpoon-like radular tooth, is capable of being extended to any part of its own shell. The living animal is a risk to any person handling it who has not taken proper care to protect exposed skin. Several human deaths have been attributed to this species.[7][8]