''Conus cedonulli'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod

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 es ...

in the

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

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, group ...

, 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 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 t ...

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 ...

. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all. Being a very varied species-complex, there has been much confusion in the course of years about which species and subspecies to assign to the ''Conus cedonulli''-complex, hence the number of synonyms named.
In 1985, D.L.N. Vink proposed assigning the following species to the ''Conus cedonulli''-complex along with ''Conus cedonulli'' : * ''

Conus aurantius ''Conus aurantius'', common name the golden cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies. Like all species within the genus ''Conus'', these snails are predatory and ven ...

'' Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 * ''Conus insularis'' Gmelin, 1791 : considered by Vink to be a synonym of ''Conus aurantius'' Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 * ''

Conus mappa ''Conus mappa'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies. There are two recognized subspecies: * ''Conus mappa jesusramirezi'' (Cossignani, 2010) * ''Conus mappa trinitarius ...

'' sensu Lightfoot, 1786 * ''Conus sanctaemarthae'' spec. nov. : now synonym of ''Conus mappa'' sensu Lightfoot, 1786 The following subspecies of ''Conus cedonulli'' were recognized by the

World Register of Marine Species The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific speciali ...

: * ''Conus cedonulli dominicanus'' Hwass in Bruguière, 1792: synonym of ''

Conus dominicanus ''Conus dominicanus'', common name the Antilles cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails, cone shells or cones.Bouchet, P. (2015). Conus dominicanus. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed th ...

'' Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 * ''Conus cedonulli insularis'' Gmelin, 1791: synonym of ''Conus cedonulli'' Linnaeus, 1767

Description

The color of the species in this complex is white to purplish grey although specimens from St. Vincent are very often dark-mahogany-brown, with some rare examples being 'black' or near-black.Personal marine bio experience
The shell is crossed by streaks that are alternately light and dark. Between these streaks, yellow, brown or dark dots occur.
The operculum is small compared to the aperture and is only one seventh its size.
The soft body of the animal is dark red.
The size of an adult shell varies between 38 mm and 78 mm.

Distribution

Locus typicus: ''(restricted by Vink & vonCosel)'' St. Vincent, Lesser Antilles.
This species occurs in the Caribbean Sea from Colombia to

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

,
along the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

and along the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...

.
Offshore West coast

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate ...

,
the species has been dredged at depths around 150 metres.
This would seem to be the species' bathymetric maximum,
since at other locations this species is usually found at much shallower depths.

Gallery

Below are several color forms: File:Conus cedonulli 3.jpg, ''Conus cedonulli'' Linnaeus, C., 1767 File:Conus cedonulli 2.jpg, ''Conus cedonulli'' Linnaeus, C., 1767 File:Conus cedonulli insularis 1.jpg, ''Conus cedonulli'' Linnaeus, C., 1767

References

* Vink, D. L. N. and von Cosel, R. 1985. ''The Conus cedonulli complex: historical review, taxonomy and biological observations''. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 92(3):525–603, 9 figs, 12 pls. * 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''. September 4, 2009 Edition
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 website

*
Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conus Cedonulli cedonulli Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus