''Conasprella mazei'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

Maze's cone, is a species of predatory

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk in the family

Conidae Conidae, with the current common name of "cone snails", is a taxonomic family (previously subfamily) of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Conoidea. The 2014 classification of the superfamily Conoidea, groups onl ...

, the cone snails, cone shells or cones.Bouchet, P. (2015). Conasprella mazei (Deshayes, 1874). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=835315 on 2015-03-15 Like all species within the genus ''Conasprella'', these cone snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.

Description

''Conasprella mazei'' is a very consistent species, displaying little variation throughout its range. The shell of this species is very elongate with an unusually high spire. The shell color is whitish with brown dot markings that can be almost square in shape. The maximum recorded shell length is 59 mm.Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. .

Distribution

This is a western Atlantic species, occurring in the Caribbean Sea as far East as Barbados, and in the Gulf of Mexico. Conus mazei variants

Habitat

This is a deepwater species. The minimum recorded depth is 152 m., and the maximum recorded depth is 549 m.

References

* Rabiller M. & Richard G. , 2019. ''Conidae offshore de Guadeloupe : Description du matériel dragué lors de l’expédition KARUBENTHOS 2 contenant de nouvelles espèces.'' Xenophora Taxonomy 24: 3-31
Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015). ''One, four or 100 genera? A new classification of the cone snails.'' Journal of Molluscan Studies. 81: 1-23

External links

- Information on this species mazei Gastropods described in 1874 {{Conidae-stub