Conus
Genus of molluscs
Conus is a genus of venomous and predatory cone snails. Prior to 2009, it included all cone snail species but is now more precisely defined.
01Description
The thick shell of species in the genus Conus sensu stricto, is obconic, with the whorls enrolled upon themselves. The spire is short, smooth or tuberculated. The narrow aperture is elongated with parallel margins and is truncated at the base. The operculum is very small relative to the size of the shell. It is corneous, narrowly elongated, with an apical nucleus, and the impression of the muscular attachment varies from one-half to two-thirds of the inner surface. The outer lip shows a slight sutural sinus.
02Distribution and habitat
Species in the genus Conus sensu stricto can be found in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at depths ranging from the sublittoral (c. 200 m) to 1,000 m (656 to 3,280 ft). They are very variable in some of their characters, such as the tuberculation of the spire and body whorl, striae, colors and the pattern of coloring.
The oldest known fossil of Conus is from the lower Eocene, about 55 million years ago.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Conus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Conus abbas 1.jpg by Almed2, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Conus pelagicus Brocchi 1814Pliocene Cyprus.jpg by Wilson44691, CC0
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