''Conus distans'', common name the distant 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 length of the shell varies between 30 mm and 137 mm. The yellowish fawn-colored shell is obsoletely banded with white at the middle and upper part, sometimes the bands are not continuous, but consist of irregular oblique markings. The

body whorl The body whorl is part of the morphology of the shell in those gastropod mollusks that possess a coiled shell. The term is also sometimes used in a similar way to describe the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. In gastropods In gastropods, the b ...

is encircled by obsolete impressed lines. It is stained with violet-chestnut towards the base. The low spire is convex, with rather obtuse rounded tubercles. The white interior is stained with light violet.G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
/ref> Conus distans 3

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Red Sea, in the tropical Indo-West Pacific and off Papua New Guinea and Australia (the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia).

References

* Bruguière, M. 1792. ''Encyclopédie Méthodique ou par ordre de matières. Histoire naturelle des vers''. Paris : Panckoucke Vol. 1 i-xviii, 757 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. * Brazier, J. 1896. ''A new genus and three new species of Mollusca from New South Wales, New Hebrides and Western Australia.'' Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 21: 345–347 * Demond, J. 1957. ''Micronesian reef associated gastropods.'' Pacific Science 11(3): 275–341, fig. 2, pl. 1 * Rippingale, O.H. & McMichael, D.F. 1961. ''Queensland and Great Barrier Reef Shells.'' Brisbane : Jacaranda Press 210 pp.
Shikama, T. 1970. ''Description of a new species of Conus from Shiono-Misaki, Wakayama Prefecture.'' Venus 29(2): 115–116
* 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. * Drivas, J.; Jay, M. (1987). ''Coquillages de La Réunion et de l'Île Maurice''. Collection Les Beautés de la Nature. Delachaux et Niestlé: Neuchâtel. . 159 pp. * 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.
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 distans distans Gastropods described in 1792