''Conus fragilissimus'', common name the fragile geography 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 co ...
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
Original description: "Shell extremely thin, fragile, translucent, glossy; outline ovately cylindrical; sides convex, tapering to the anterior end; shoulder wide, angled, with prominent coronations; spire high, stepped, somewhat scalariform; spire sculpture consisting of 4-6 fine revolving spiral threads; aperture wide, flaring; color pale tan with longitudinal brown flammules, flammules often coalescing into large brown patches; base color pattern overlaid with variable amounts of dots, dashes, and netlike pattern; spire color pale tan with regularly spaced dark brown flammules; protoconch and early whorls dark brown; shoulder coronations white; aperture white; periostracum smooth, translucent yellow; operculum unknown."
[Petuch, E.J. 1979-''Twelve new Indo-Pacific gastropods'', Nemouria Vol. 23, page 16]
The size of the shell varies between 26 mm and 50 mm.
Distribution
Locus typicus: "3 metres depth, off South coast of Harmil Isl.,
Dahlak Archipelago, Eritrea Province, Ethiopia."
[Petuch, E.J. 1979-''Twelve new Indo-Pacific gastropods'', Nemouria Vol. 23, page 16.]
This species occurs in the
Red Sea and off
Ethiopia.
Etymology
"In reference to the almost paper thinness of the shell."
References
* Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009) ''Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods.'' Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 296 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*
fragilissimus
Gastropods described in 1979
{{conus-stub