Conus capitaneus
Encyclopedia
Conus capitaneus, common name the captain cone, is a species of sea snail
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family
Conidae, the cone snails
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.
is striate, flamed with chocolate and white. The body whorl
is yellowish, or orange-brown, encircled by rows of chestnut dots, usually stained chocolate at the base. There is a central white band, with chocolate hierogtyphic markings on either side, and a shoulder-band, crossed by chocolate smaller longitudinal markings. The aperture
is white.
along Madagascar
, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius
and Tanzania
; and in the Indo-West Pacific
(along Hawaii
, Samoa
, Tonga
, Japan
to Australia
),
Sea snail
Sea snail is a common name for those snails that normally live in saltwater, marine gastropod molluscs....
, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Conidae, the cone snails
Conus
Conus is a large genus of small to large predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs, with the common names of cone snails, cone shells or cones. This genus is placed in the subfamily Coninae within the family Conidae. Geologically speaking, the genus is known from the Eocene to the Recent ...
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 size of an adult shell varies between 50 mm and 98 mm. Its low spireSpire (mollusc)
A spire is a descriptive term for part of the coiled shell of mollusks. The word is a convenient aid in describing shells, but it does not refer to a very precise part of shell anatomy: the spire consists of all of the whorls except for the body whorl...
is striate, flamed with chocolate and white. The body whorl
Body whorl
Body whorl is part of the morphology of a coiled gastropod mollusk.- In gastropods :In gastropods, the body whorl, or last whorl, is the most recently-formed and largest whorl of a spiral or helical shell, terminating in the aperture...
is yellowish, or orange-brown, encircled by rows of chestnut dots, usually stained chocolate at the base. There is a central white band, with chocolate hierogtyphic markings on either side, and a shoulder-band, crossed by chocolate smaller longitudinal markings. The aperture
Aperture (mollusc)
The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....
is white.
Distribution
This marine species occurs in the Indian OceanIndian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
along Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
; and in the Indo-West Pacific
Indo-West Pacific
The Indo-West Pacific, or IWP, is a zoogeographical region spanning the entire Indian Ocean including the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean as far as the Caroline Islands but short of the Marshall Islands...
(along Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
),