''Conus cyanostoma'' 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 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
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 cyanostoma A. Adams, 1855. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=426470 on 2015-05-21]
Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are
predatory and
venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.
Description
The size of the shell varies between 17 mm and 32 mm.
Distribution
This marine species occurs in the tropical Indo-Pacific Region and off Australia (
New South Wales,
Queensland).
References
* Adams, A. 1855. ''Descriptions of new species of the genus Conus, from the collection of Hugh Cuming, Esq.'' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1854:116–119.
* Brazier, J. 1875. ''Descriptions of ten new species of shells from the collection of Mr C. Coxen, of Brisbane, Queensland.'' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1875: 31–34
* Smith, E.A. 1892. ''Descriptions of new species of shells from New South Wales, New Guinea, the Caroline and Solomon Islands.'' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1891: 486–491 pp., pl. 40
* Hedley, C. 1913. ''Studies of Australian Mollusca. Part XI.'' Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 38: 258–339
* Wilson, B. 1994. ''Australian Marine Shells. Prosobranch Gastropods.'' Kallaroo, WA : Odyssey Publishing Vol. 2 370 pp.
* Röckel, D., Korn, W. & Kohn, A.J. 1995. ''Manual of the Living Conidae. Volume 1: Indo-Pacific Region''. Wiesbaden : Hemmen 517 pp.
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
The ''Conus'' Biodiversity websiteCone Shells – Knights of the Sea*
cyanostoma
Gastropods described in 1855
{{conus-stub