Purple cone snail
| Purple cone snail | ||||||||||||
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Housing of Conus purpurascens |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Conus purpurascens | ||||||||||||
| WJ Broderip in GB Sowerby I , 1833 |
The purple cone , also the purple cone snail ( Conus purpurascens ) is a snail from the cone snail family (genus Conus ) that lives on the American Pacific coast .
features
The purple cone snail is extraordinarily rich in shape. The body circumference of the snail shell of Conus purpurascens is broadly conical and slightly convex. In adult snails it reaches a length of about 5 to 10 cm. The thread can form a pronounced second cone or it can also be strongly flattened and concave. The basic color of the case is light red (hence the name purpurascens), the case mouth has a purple border on the inside. The slightly granular surface of the body is covered with mosaic-like brown and white lines and more or less large brown spots.
The foot, head and sipho (except for the tip) are reddish to orange with numerous brown spots. The antennae and the tip of the siphon are white.
distribution
The purple cone occurs on the Pacific coast of South , Central and North America , so there are finds on the coasts of Peru , Ecuador , Panama , Costa Rica and Mexico .
habitat
Purple cones live on sandy muddy soil between rocks or crevices in the coastal fringe.
food
Conus purpurascens feeds on fish that are killed by being stabbed once with a harpoon with the poisonous radula tooth . The snail buries itself in the sandy soil so that only the siphon protrudes. A fish that perceives it as a prey is harpooned by the cone snail. The poison works in seconds. The prey is swallowed within a few seconds.
Importance to humans
Conus purpurascens is a popular collector's item because of its patterned housing, so that humans can be considered a main enemy.
Like other cone snails, the purple cone uses its poisonous harpoon not only to catch prey, but also for defense. Its fang can penetrate gloves and diving suits. There is no antidote , so treatment is aimed at keeping the person alive until the toxins are gone.
Some toxins ( conotoxins ) from cone snails have a strong analgesic effect and are therefore being investigated for medical applicability. The peptide ω-conotoxin discovered in Conus purpurascens , for example, specifically blocks N-type calcium channels in humans and thus prevents the influx of calcium and the release of neurotransmitters at the synapse . The peptide can therefore block the transmission of pain stimuli and contribute to pain relief even in cases where morphine is not sufficiently effective.
literature
- George Washington Tryon: Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species , vol. VI; Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 1884. C [onus] purpurascens Brod., Pp. 64f.
Web links
- Conus purpurascens inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . 2. Posted by: Tenorio, MJ, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b W. J. Broderip in GB Sowerby , Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1833, p. 54. Sowerby, Con. 111., fig. 13. online at archive.org
- ↑ See also picture with Conus purpurascens .
- ↑ Robert Nordsieck (weichtiere.at): The venom apparatus of the cone snails (Conidae)
- ↑ Baldomero M. Olivera (1996): Conus Venom Peptides, Receptor and Ion Channel Targets, and Drug Design: 50 Million Years of Neuropharmacology . Published in Mol. Biol. Cell (November 1, 1997), vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 2101-2109. Here is a comparison of the capture methods of Conus purpurascens and Conus geographus (Fig. 3 from the article).
- ↑ a b Christian Melaun: Phylogenetic and toxinological studies on Conidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) with special consideration of West Atlantic representatives of the genus Conus (PDF; 4.4 MB). Dissertation, Giessen 2008.
