''Conus terebra'' 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 co ...

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 43 mm and 100 mm. The shell is striated throughout. Its color is pale yellowish or ash-color, indistinctly two-banded, often somewhat tinged with violet at the base. The aperture is white or slightly violaceous.G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
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Distribution

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

References

* Born, I. von 1778. ''Index rerum naturalium Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis, pl. 1, Testacea''. – Verzeichniss etc. Illust. Vindobonae. Vienna : J.P. Krauss xlii 458 pp. * Gmelin J.F. 1791. Caroli a Linné. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Lipsiae : Georg. Emanuel. Beer Vermes. Vol. 1(Part 6) pp. 3021–3910. * Röding, P.F. 1798. ''Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturae quae olim collegerat Joa.'' Hamburg : Trappii 199 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. * Hinds, R.B. 1843. ''Description of new shells from the collection of Captain Belcher.'' Annals and Magazine of Natural History ser. 1 11: 16–21, 36–46, 255–257 * Sowerby, G.B III. Jr. (1881). ''Descriptions of eight new species of shells''. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. (1881): 635–639 * 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. * Röckel, D., Korn, W. & Kohn, A.J. 1995. ''Manual of the Living Conidae. Volume 1: Indo-Pacific Region''. Wiesbaden : Hemmen 517 pp. *

External links

The ''Conus'' Biodiversity website

Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conus Terebra terebra Gastropods described in 1778