Conus musicus

Harmoniconus musicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Caenogastropoda clade Hypsogastropoda clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Conidae
Subfamily:	Coninae
Genus:	Harmoniconus
Species:	H. musicus
Binomial name
Harmoniconus musicus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 [1]
Synonyms[2]
Conus acutus G. B. Sowerby II, 1857 Conus ceylanensis Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 Conus mighelsi Kiener, 1845 Harmoniconus musicus (Hwass in Bruguière, 1792)

Harmoniconus musicus, common name the music cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.^[2]

These snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.

There is one subspecies Conus musicus parvatus Walls, 1979

Description

The size of an adult shell varies between 14 mm and 30 mm. The color of the shell is whitish, with light ash-violet broad bands and narrow revolving lines of chocolate, broken up into short lines and spots. The spire is often slightly coronate, rayed with chocolate. ^[3]

Distribution

this species occurs in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania; in the Central Indian Ocean (along Sri Lanka and the Maldives) to the Marshall Islands and Fiji, Ryukyu Islands to West and East Australia.

References

1. ^ Bruguière, J. G., and Hwass, C. H., 1792. Cone. Encyclopédie Méthodique: Histoire Naturelle des Vers, 1: 586 -757
2. ^ ^{a b} Conus musicus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792.  Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=215435 on 1 August 2011.
3. ^ George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 11; 1879

• Filmer R.M. (2001). A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living Conidae 1758 - 1998. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 388pp.
• Tucker J.K. (2009). Recent cone species database. September 4th 2009 Edition
• Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009) Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 296 pp.

External links

• The Conus Biodiversity website
• Gastropods.com : Harmoniconus musicus; accessed: 1 August 2011