Conus marmoreus

Conus marmoreus
A live Conus marmoreus feeding on Monetaria caputserpentis.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Conoidea
Family: Conidae
Genus: Conus
Species: C. marmoreus
Binomial name
Conus marmoreus
Linnaeus, 1758[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Conus crosseanus Bernardi, 1861
  • Conus crosseanus var. lineata Crosse, 1878
  • Conus maculatus Perry, 1811
  • Conus marmoreus var. granulatus G. B. Sowerby II, 1839
  • Conus pseudomarmoreus Crosse, 1875
  • Conus (Conus) proarchithalassus Röding, P.F., 1798
  • Conus suffusus Sowerby II, 1870
  • Conus suffusus var. noumeensis Crosse, 1872
  • Cucullus proarchithalassus Röding, 1798

Conus marmoreus, common name the "marbled cone", is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails, cone shells or cones. It is the type species for the Conus genus. This is a species which is believed to feed mostly on marine molluscs including other cone snails.[3][2]

This snail is venomous, like all cone snails. There is one subspecies: Conus marmoreus bandanus Lamarck

Distribution

This species occurs in the Indian Ocean along Chagos and Madagascar, in the Bay of Bengal along India; in the western part of the Pacific Ocean to Fiji and the Marshall Islands.

Shell description

The size of an adult shell can vary between 30 mm and 150 mm. In this species, the shell color can range from black with white dots, to orange with white reticulations, so arranged as to expose the white in rounded triangular large spots. The aperture is white or light pink.[4]

References

  1. Linnaeus, C., 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, 10th ed., 1
  2. 2.0 2.1 "WoRMS". Conus marmoreus Linnaeus, 1758. World Register of Marine Species. July 29, 2011. Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  3. "Conus marmoreus". Penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  4. George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 7; 1879

External links

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