''Conus suratensis'', common name the Surat cone, is a species of

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 and their allies. 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.

Description

The size of the shell varies between 40 mm and 161 mm. The color of the shell is yellow or orange-brown, with revolving series of numerous spots, and short lines of chocolate upon narrow white bands. The more rugose growth lines cause them to be rather regularly interrupted, so that they form longitudinal as well as revolving series. 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 radiated with chocolate. The base of the shell is strongly grooved.G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
(described as ''Conus betulinus'' var. ''suratensis'')

Distribution

This marine species occurs in the Indo-Pacific off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the Andaman Sea, off Bangladesh, in the Bay of Bengal, off Eastern Indi, off Indo-Malaysia, off Madagascar, off Myanmar (Burma), off the Solomon Islands, off Sri Lanka, off Thailand and off Australia (Queensland).

References

* Bruguière, J. G., and Hwass, C. H., 1792. ''Cone.'' Encyclopédie Méthodique: Histoire Naturelle des Vers, 1: 586 -757 * Cernohorsky, W.O. 1978. ''Tropical Pacific Marine Shells''. Sydney : Pacific Publications 352 pp., 68 pls. * Röckel, D., Korn, W. & Kohn, A.J. 1995. ''Manual of the Living Conidae. Volume 1: Indo-Pacific Region''. Wiesbaden : Hemmen 517 pp. * Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009) ''Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods.'' Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 296 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 suratensis suratensis Gastropods described in 1792