''Conus textile'', the textile cone or the cloth of gold cone is a venomous

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the family Conidae, the cone snails, cone shells or cones. Textile cone snails live mostly in the Indian Ocean, along the eastern coast of Africa and around Australia. Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are

predatory Predation is a biological interaction in which 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 ...

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 Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-ear ...

humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all. Based on a report in 2004, about 30 human deaths have been attributed to cone snails.

List of synonyms

* ''Conus (Cylinder) textile'' Linnaeus, 1758 · accepted, alternate representation * ''Conus cholmondeleyi'' Melvill, 1900 * ''Conus communis'' Swainson, 1840 * ''Cylinder concatenatus'' Kiener, 1845 * ''Conus corbula'' G. B. Sowerby II, 1858 * ''Conus dilectus'' Gould, 1850 * ''Conus euetrios'' G. B. Sowerby III, 1882 * ''Conus eumitus'' Tomlin, 1926 * ''Conus panniculus'' Lamarck, 1810 * ''Conus reteaureum'' Perry, 1811 * ''Conus sirventi'' Fenaux, 1943 * ''Conus suzannae'' van Rossum, 1990 * ''Conus textile dahlakensis'' da Motta, 1982 * ''Conus textile'' var. ''euetrios'' G. B. Sowerby III * ''Conus textile'' var. ''loman'' Dautzenberg, 1937 * ''Conus textile'' var. ''ponderosa'' Dautzenberg, 1932 (invalid: junior homonym of ''Conus quercinus'' var. ''ponderosa'' G.B. Sowerby, 1858) * ''Conus textilinus'' ''Kiener, 1847'' (synonym of ''Conus textile archiepiscopus'') * ''Conus tigrinus'' G. B. Sowerby II, 1858 * ''Conus undulatus'' ightfoot 1786 * ''Conus verriculum'' Reeve, 1843 * ''Cucullus auratus'' Röding, 1798 * ''Cucullus auriger'' Röding, 1798 * ''Cucullus gloriamaris'' Röding, 1798 * ''Cylinder gloriamaris'' Perry, 1810 * ''Cylindrus panniculus'' Lamarck, 1810 * ''Cylindrus scriptus'' G. B. Sowerby II, 1858 * ''Cylindrus textile'' var. ''ponderosa'' Dautzenberg, 1932 * ''Cylindrus tigrinus'' G. B. Sowerby II, 1858 * ''Cylindrus verriculum'' Reeve, 1843 * ''Cylindrus aurelius'' Röding, 1798 * ''Cylindrus auriger'' Röding, 1798 * ''Cylindrus gloriamaris'' Röding, 1798 * ''Cylindrus textilis osullivani'' Iredale, 1931 * ''Cylindrus textilis'' * ''Cylinder textile'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Darioconus textilis'' * ''Darioconus textilis osullivani'' Iredale, 1931

Subspecies

* ''Conus textile neovicarius'' da Motta, 1982 * ''Conus textile vaulberti'' Lorenz, 2012 (Mauritius) * ''Conus textile dahlakensis'' da Motta, 1982 : synonym of ''Conus textile'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Conus textile'' var. ''abbreviata'' Dautzenberg, 1937: synonym of '' Conus ammiralis'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Conus textile'' var. ''euetrios'' G. B. Sowerby III : synonym of ''Conus textile'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Conus textile'' var. ''loman'' Dautzenberg, 1937 : synonym of ''Conus textile'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Conus textile'' var. ''ponderosa'' Dautzenberg, 1932 : synonym of ''Conus textile'' Linnaeus, 1758 * ''Conus textile'' var. ''sulcata'' G. B. Sowerby I, 1834 : synonym of '' Conus retifer'' Menke, 1829

Shell description

Typical length of adults is about 9 cm to 10 cm (3.5 in to 3.9 in). The maximum shell length for this species is 15 cm (5.9 in). The color of the shell is yellowish brown, with undulating longitudinal lines of brown, interrupted by triangular white spaces. These last are irregularly disposed, but crowded at the shoulder, base and middle so as to form bands. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

is similarly marked. The

aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...

is white.

Distribution

''C. textile'' lives in the waters of the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, the tropical

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

, off Australia (

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

from

eastern Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, and

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. In Australia, ''C. textile'' is more commonly found in northern Queensland, but sightings are increasingly found further south into New South Wales due to warmer ocean temperatures associated with

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

.Deadly cone snail found on NSW North Coast as east coast sightings increase
''

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

'', 20 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.

Ecology

Habitat

''C. textile'' may be found in estuaries, on rocky shores and in rockpools. During the day they are usually buried in sand, and emerge to feed at night.

Life cycle

The female lays several hundred eggs at a time, which hatch after about 16 or 17 days. After hatching, the larvae float around in the current for approximately 16 days. Afterward, they settle at the bottom of the ocean. By this point their length is about 1.5 mm (0.06 in).

Feeding habits

''C. textile'' is a

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

species, and uses a

radula The radula (; : radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by mollusks for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters ...

(a biological microscopic needle) to inject a

conotoxin A conotoxin is one of a group of neurotoxic peptides isolated from the venom of the marine cone snail, genus '' Conus''. Conotoxins, which are peptides consisting of 10 to 30 amino acid residues, typically have one or more disulfide bonds. C ...

to kill its prey. Its venom contains the neurotoxin RPRFamide. ''C. textile'' eats

snails A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

. The

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

, the tip of which holds the harpoon-like radular tooth, is capable of being extended to any part of its own shell. The living animal is a risk to any person handling it who has not taken proper care to protect exposed skin. Several human deaths have been attributed to this species.Cloth-of-Gold (Full Screen, Please)

References

Literature

Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. ii, 824 pp
* Bruguière, M. 1792. ''Encyclopédie Méthodique ou par ordre de matières.'' Histoire naturelle des vers. Paris : Panckoucke Vol. 1 i-xviii, 757 pp. * Röding, P.F. 1798. ''Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturae quae olim collegerat Joa.'' Hamburg : Trappii 199 pp. * Lamarck, J.B.P.A. de M. 1810. ''Suite des espèces du genre Cône.'' Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 15: 263-286, 422-442 * Perry, G. 1811. ''Arcana, or The museum of natural history : containing the most recent discovered objects: embellished with coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions: with extracts relating to animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of nature''. London : James Stratford pl. XLIX-LXXXIV. * Swainson, W. 1840. ''A Treatise on Malacology or the Natural Classification of Shells and Shell-fish.'' London : Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans 419 pp. * Reeve, L.A. 1843. ''Monograph of the genus Conus''. pls 1-39 in Reeve, L.A. (ed.). Conchologica Iconica. London : L. Reeve & Co. Vol. 1. * Kiener, L.C. 1845. ''Spécies général et Iconographie des coquilles vivantes, comprenant la collection du Muséum d'histoire Naturelle de Paris, la collection de Lamarck, celle du Prince Massena (appartenant maintenant a M. le Baron B. Delessert) et les découvertes récentes des voyageurs''. Paris : Rousseau et Baillière Vol. 2. * Gould, A.A. 1850. ''Shells collected by the United States Exploring Expedition under the command of Charles Wilkes''. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 3: 169-172 * Sowerby, G.B. 1857-1858. ''Monograph of the genus Conus''. 1-56, pls 1-24 in Thesaurus conchyliorum or monographs of genera of shells. London : Sowerby Vol. 3. * Sowerby, G.B. (3rd) 1882. ''Descriptions of new species of shells in the collection of Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill.'' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1882: 117-121 * Smith, E.A. 1891. ''On a collection of marine shells from Aden, with some remarks upon the relationship of the Molluscan Fauna of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.'' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1891(3): 390-436 * Melvill, J.C. 1900. ''A revision of textile cones with description of C. cholmondeleyi n. sp.'' Journal of Conchology 9: 303-311 * Smith, E.A. 1903. ''Marine Mollusca.'' pp. 589–630, pls 35-36 in Gardiner, J.S. (ed). The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes. Being the account of work carried on and of the collections made by an expedition during the years 1899 and 1900. Cambridge : University Press Vol * Dautzenberg, P. 1932. ''Mollusques testacés marins de Madagascar.'' Journal de Conchyliologie 76(1): 5-119, pl. * Dautzenberg, P. 1937. ''Gastéropodes marins. 3-Famille Conidae'; Résultats Scientifiques du Voyage aux Indes Orientales Néerlandaises de LL. AA. RR. Le Prince et la Princesse Lé Belgique''. Mémoires du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique 2(18): 284 pp, 3 pls * Fenaux 1943. ''Complément a l'étude de la faune malcologique de Paumotou.'' Bulletin de l'Institut Océanographique Monaco 835: 3 * Demond, J. 1957. ''Micronesian reef associated gastropods''. Pacific Science 11(3): 275-341, fig. 2, pl. 1 * Gillett, K. & McNeill, F. 1959. ''The Great Barrier Reef and Adjacent Isles: a comprehensive survey for visitor, naturalist and photographer''. Sydney : Coral Press 209 pp. * Wilson, B.R. & Gillett, K. 1971. ''Australian Shells: illustrating and describing 600 species of marine gastropods found in Australian waters.'' Sydney : Reed Books 168 pp. * Hinton, A. 1972. ''Shells of New Guinea and the Central Indo-Pacific''. Milton : Jacaranda Press xviii 94 pp. * Salvat, B. & Rives, C. 1975. ''Coquillages de Polynésie.'' Tahiti : Papéete Les editions du pacifique, pp. 1–391. * Cernohorsky, W.O. 1978. ''Tropical Pacific Marine Shells''. Sydney : Pacific Publications 352 pp., 68 pls. * Kay, E.A. 1979. ''Hawaiian Marine Shells. Reef and shore fauna of Hawaii. Section 4 : Mollusca.'' Honolulu, Hawaii : Bishop Museum Press Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication Vol. 64(4) 653 pp. * Motta, A.J. da 1983. ''Two new species of the genus Conus (Gastropoda: Conidae).'' Publicaçoes Ocasionais da Sociedade Portuguesa de Malacologia 2: 1-9 * Lauer, J. 1987. ''Tent marked cones; 4e partie.'' Rossiniana 36: 11-22 * Drivas, J. & M. Jay (1988). ''Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'île Maurice'' * Rossum, H.M. van 1990. ''A new cone from the coasts of Kenya (Indian Ocean) (Gastropoda: Conidae)''. La Conchiglia 22(250-252): 29-31 * 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. * Filmer R.M. (2001). ''A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living Conidae 1758 - 1998''. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 388pp. * Branch, G.M. et al. (2002).'' Two Oceans''. 5th impression. David Philip, Cate Town & Johannesburg * Spencer, H.; Marshall. B. (2009). ''All Mollusca except Opisthobranchia''. In: Gordon, D. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume One: Kingdom Animalia. 584 pp * Tucker J.K. (2009). ''Recent cone species database''. September 4, 2009 Edition * Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009) ''Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods''. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 296 pp * * Lorenz, F., 2012. ''A new subspecies of Conidae from Mauritius (Gastropoda).'' Schriften zur Malakozoologie 27: 21-24

External links

* *
Holotype of ''Conus textile vaulberti'' in MNHN, Paris
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1507512

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus