Conus mappa
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| Lightfoot , 1786 |
Conus mappa is a snail belonging tothe cone snail family (genus Conus ),widespreadin the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea , andfeeds on fire bristle worms.
features
Conus mappa carries a moderately large and heavy snail shell , which is wider than Conus aurantius and which in fully grown snails reaches a length of 3.5 to 6 cm. The body contour is cone-shaped with a smooth surface, the outline is straight and the shoulder is smooth. The thread is high and only occupied with small tubercles at the first whorls, its outline straight to concave, and its whorls are covered with some very fine, longitudinal grooves. The color pattern of the body handling varies greatly and is milky-white to pale pink-white with two greenish-yellow to dark brown spiral bands that are interrupted in irregular spots. The case mouth is whitish.
distribution and habitat
Conus mappa is distributed in the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea on the coasts of Colombia , Venezuela , Trinidad and Barbados , but also Tobago and Los Testigos .
It lives at depths of up to 155 m, preferably from 2 to 80 m, on mineral or chalky subsoil made of sand or mussel shill.
nutrition
Conus mappa eats at least two species of polychaetes family of fire bristleworms (Amphinomidae), namely Hermodice carunculata and Eurythoe complanata . Like all amphinomids, both species are extremely defensive with their poisonous stinging bristles and are predatory. The cone snail overpowers the poisonous annelids by stabbing the victim with its radula teeth and immobilizing it with the help of poison from the venom gland . The poisonous bristles of the prey (" stinging hairs ") are wrapped in slime. The range of prey resembles that of other cone snail species of the so-called Cedonulli complex in the subgenus Stephanoconus .
literature
- Alan J. Kohn: Conus of the Southeastern United States and Caribbean. Princeton University Press, Princeton (New Jersey) 2014. pp. 164–173, here p. 172.
- Danker LN Vink, Rudo von Cosel (1985): The Conus cedonulli complex: Historical review, taxonomy and biological observations. Revue suisse de zoologie t. 92 fasc. 3-4, pp. 547-552.
- Henry E. Coomans (1973): Conidae with smooth and granulated shells. Malacologia 14, p. 340.
- 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.
