''Conus cuna'' 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.
Distribution
This species occurs in the
Caribbean Sea off Panama.
Description
The maximum recorded
shell length is 23 mm.
[Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. .]
Habitat
Minimum recorded depth is 3 m.
Maximum recorded depth is 3 m.
References
* Petuch, E. J. 1998a. ''Molluscan discoveries from the tropical western Atlantic region. Part 5. New species of Conus from the Bahamas, Honduran Banks, San Blas Archipelago, and northeastern South America''. La Conchiglia 30(287):25–37, 21 figs.
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*
cuna
Gastropods described in 1998
Fauna of the Caribbean
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