Centurion cone
| Centurion cone | ||||||||||||
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Housing by Conasprella centurio |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Conasprella centurio | ||||||||||||
| ( Born , 1786) |
The centurions Cone ( Conasprella centurion , original combination Conus centurio ) is a snail from the family of cone snails (genus Conasprella ), which in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea is common and, among others, snails and acorn worms fed.
features
Conasprella centurio carries a moderately large snail shell , which in adult snails reaches about 5 to 7 cm in length. The smooth circumference of the body is frustoconical, the outline straight and concave at the clearly narrowed base. The shoulder is angled. The thread is medium high and obtuse-angled, sometimes with a pointed apex, and has 12 to 13 concave whorls that are offset from one another. The body is sculptured at the base with oblique stripes. The case mouth is evenly wide and has a sharp, deeply cut out hem.
The basic color of the housing is white with transverse red-brown zigzag lines that unite in the middle of the body and more towards the base to form two bands. The areas in between as well as a band at the shoulder and at the base are colored matt orange, so that a total of four bands can be seen. At the base, rows of red-brown square spots run between the oblique stripes. The thread is white with yellow-brown spots, the base bluish and the inside of the mouth pale pink.
distribution and habitat
Conasprella centurio is widespread in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea on the continental shelf of northern South America from Colombia to Brazil and in the Lesser Antilles , namely Monos , Trinidad , St. Vincent and Barbados . It lives in depths of 2 to 175 m on calcareous gravel and muddy subsoil, often in connection with red algae .
nutrition
Compared to other representatives of its genus, Conasprella centurio apparently has a wider range of prey, which also includes snails . He has been observed eating egg snails ( Cyphoma intermedium ) and remains of marginal snails ( Marginella sp.) And acorn worms were found in his intestines . The prey is stabbed with a radula tooth , immobilized with the help of poison from the venom gland and swallowed whole.
Predators
Crabs ( Calappa sp.) And starfish have been observed to be predators of Conus centurio .
literature
- Heinrich Carl Küster , Heinrich Conrad Weinkauff : Coneae or Conidae, I. Conus Linné. In: Systematic Conchylia Cabinet by Martini and Chemnitz. Volume 4, Dept. 2. Verlag von Bauer and Raspe (Emil Küster), Nuremberg 1875. pp. 1–403, here no. 64 Conus centurio Born, der Centurionen-Kegel, pp. 79f.
- Alan J. Kohn: Conus of the Southeastern United States and Caribbean. Princeton University Press, Princeton (New Jersey) 2014. pp. 137–145, here p. 142.
- George Washington Tryon: Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species , vol. VI; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 1884. C [onus] centurio Born., P. 33.
- Jerry G. Walls: Cone Shells: A Synopsis of the Living Conidae. TFH Publications, Neptune (New Jersey) 1979. p. 299.
- Peter L. Percharde (1974): Underwater Observations on Two Rare Southern Caribbean Cones, (Mollusca, Gastropoda) - Conus mappa (Lightfoot) 1786 and Conus centurio Born 1778 in Trinidad & Tobago. Living World 1983-1984, pp. 46-53.
