''Conus aureonimbosus'' is a species of

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

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 Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines co ...

and their allies.Bouchet, P. (2015). Conus aureonimbosus Petuch, 1987. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=420204 on 2015-06-09 These snails are

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

and

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

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

Description

Original description: "Shell thin, fragile, slender and elongated; body whorl highly polished; numerous fine spiral cords around anterior end; shoulder sharp, obsoletely coronated with low undulations and rounded bumps; spire low; protoconch needle-like, protracted, projecting above spire; shell color pale cream-yellow overlaid with large amorphous, flammules of bright golden-yellow; mid-body with white band containing rows of pale tan dots and dashes; spire whorls white with dark orange and tan flammules; protoconch yellow, interior of aperture white; anterior tip of shell yellow; periostracum thin, yellow, transparent."
The shell of a Conus Aureonimbosus can vary in size between 33 mm and 61 mm.
It has a light cream colored shell, with tan striations running throughout it.

Distribution

Locus typicus: "(Dredged from) 150 metres depth
50 kilometres South of Apalachicola, Florida, USA."Petuch, E.J. 1987-''New Caribbean Molluscan Faunas'', page 17. Publ: CERF
This marine species occurs in the North Atlantic Ocean off

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

at a depth of 150 metres.

References

* Tucker J. T. (2013) The cone shells of Florida. An illustrated key and a review of the Recent species. 155 pp. Wellington, Florida: MdM Publishing.
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

* aureonimbosus Gastropods described in 1987 {{conus-stub