''Conus fergusoni'', common name the Ferguson's cone, 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 ...

and their allies. 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 an adult shell varies between 60 mm and 150 mm. The heavy shell has a slightly channeled spire. The white shell is lightly striolate transversely and is covered under a brown

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

. George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 15; 1879

Distribution

This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean off the Galapagos Islands and from the Gulf of California to Peru.

References

* 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.'' 4 September 2009 Edition
Petit, R. E. (2009), ''George Brettingham Sowerby, I, II & III: their conchological publications and molluscan taxa''. Zootaxa. 2189: 1–218

External links

The ''Conus'' Biodiversity website
*
Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea

Gallery

File:Conus fergusoni 1.jpg, ''Conus fergusoni'' Sowerby, G.B. II, 1873 File:Conus fergusoni 2.jpg, ''Conus fergusoni'' Sowerby, G.B. II, 1873 {{DEFAULTSORT:Conus Fergusoni fergusoni Gastropods described in 1873