Conus marmoreus

Conus marmoreus
A live Conus marmoreus feeding on Cypraea caputserpensis.
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 G. B. 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. 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. However it is significantly less venomous than other cone snails, especially the fish-eating species, and poses no danger to humans.^[4][5]

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.^[6]

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  The shell of Conus marmoreus from Index Testarum Conchyliorum (1742) by Niccolò Gualtieri

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  A shell of Conus marmoreus after it has been cleaned

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  The shell of Conus marmoreus in various aspects

References

1. ^ Linnaeus, C., 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, 10th ed., 1
2. ^ ^{a b} < WoRMS (2010). Conus marmoreus Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=215457 on 2011-07-29
3. ^ http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/marmoreus.html
4. ^ "Studies of the Venoms of Some Conidae" (1963) by R. Endean and Clare Rudkin, Toxicon, 1, 49-64
5. ^ http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/marmoreus.html
6. ^ George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 7; 1879

• Dautzenberg, Ph. (1929). Mollusques testacés marins de Madagascar. Faune des Colonies Francaises, Tome III
• 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

External links

• The Conus Biodiversity Website : Conus marmoreus
• Conus marmoreus -Information on this species
• Conus marmoreus, part of the Encyclopædia Romana by James Grout.
• Cone Snail Species - More information on Conus marmoreus
• Gastropods.com: Conus (Conus) marmoreus; accessed: 29 July 2011