''Conasprella jaspidea'', common name the Jasper cone, is a species of sea snail, a small

cone snail 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 ...

, 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.Bouchet, P. (2015). Conasprella jaspidea (Gmelin, 1791). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=836687 on 2015-07-31 Like all species within the genus ''Conasprella'', these cone 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.

Subspecies

* ''Conasprella jaspidea jaspidea'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''

Conasprella jaspidea pealii ''Conasprella jaspidea pealii'' is a subspecies of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though no ...

'' Green, 1830

Synonyms

* ''Conasprella (Ximeniconus) jaspidea'' (Gmelin, 1791) accepted, alternate representation * ''Conus acutimarginatus''

G. B. Sowerby II George Brettingham Sowerby II (1812 – 26 July 1884) was a British natural history, naturalist, illustrator, and Conchology, conchologist. Together with his father, George Brettingham Sowerby I, he published the ''Thesaurus Conchyliorum'' a ...

, 1866 * ''Conus corrugatus'' G. B. Sowerby II, 1870 * ''Conus crebrisulcatus'' G. B. Sowerby II, 1857 * ''Conus exumaensis'' (Petuch, 2013) * ''Conus jaspideus'' f. ''acutimarginatus'' G. B. Sowerby II, 1866 (unavailable name: infrasubspecific rank) * ''Conus jaspideus jaspideus'' Gmelin, 1791 * ''Conus oleiniki'' (Petuch, 2013) * ''Conus sulcatus'' Mühlfeld, 1816 * ''Jaspidiconus acutimarginatus'' (G. B. Sowerby II, 1866) * ''Jaspidiconus exumaensis'' Petuch, 2013 * ''Jaspidiconus jaspideus'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Jaspidiconus jaspideus'' f. ''acutimarginatus'' (G. B. Sowerby II, 1866) * ''Jaspidiconus jaspideus jaspideus'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Jaspidiconus oleiniki'' Petuch, 2013

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...

and in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

(off Guadeloupe); in the Atlantic Ocean off Northern

Brasil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area an ...

Description

The maximum recorded

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

length is 30 mm.Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. .

Habitat

The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0 m; maximum recorded depth is 97 m.

References

* Sowerby, G.B. II. (1870). ''Descriptions of Forty-eight new Species of Shells''. Proc. Zool. Soc. London. (1870): 249–259
Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. and 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
*
Specimen in MNHN, Paris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conasprella jaspidea jaspidea Gastropods described in 1791 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin