Weber cone
| Textile cone snail | ||||||||||||
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Conus textile, Cod Hole, Great Barrier Reef , Australia |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Conus textile | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The weaver 's cone , also known as the textile cone snail ( Conus textile ), is a snail from the cone snail family (genus Conus ), which is common throughout the Indo-Pacific . It mainly feeds on mollusks .
features
The snail shell of Conus textile is wide, conical to ovoid with a convex to straight outline. In adult snails it reaches 4 to 15 cm in length, typically 9 to 10 cm. The basic color of the case is white, sometimes with a blue, purple, beige, orange or pink hue. The surface of the body is covered by a network of drawn dark brown lines that form a pattern of numerous characteristic white, dark brown outlined triangles, sometimes also squares or circles. In between there are yellowish-light brown spots with dark brown axial lines, arranged in two to three interrupted bands. The color pattern resembles a cellular automaton , namely Rule 30 according to Stephen Wolfram's classification. In particular, the arrangement of the triangles is similar to rule 30, with their regular areas being formed at the base and top of the housing. The thread forms a flat, often concave cone. It is drawn in a similar way to the body handling. The periostracum is gray to yellow, thin, translucent and smooth.
The foot and rostrum are white to pale yellow or creamy pink. The top of the foot is speckled in light to dark brown and has black spots on the edge that form a black side spot in front. In front is an orange-brown to red border with a central black spot. The sole of the foot is speckled brown and red in front. The antenna and siphon are speckled white and brown, the tip of the siphon is red. The proboscis is pale red, darker at the tip.
The radula teeth connected to a poison gland are comparatively long - they take up about 11% to 29% of the length of the case - and slim. They have two opposing barbs at the tip and are sawed over a long stretch of the shaft with weak to frail teeth, ending in a weak point seen about one-seventh the length from the base. A spur at the base is missing.
distribution
The weaver's cone is widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific and occurs in the Red Sea , the Indian and Pacific Oceans from the coast of East Africa to Hawaii , around Australia , New Zealand and French Polynesia .
habitat
Weaver's cones live in the intertidal zone of coral reefs and on the coast of the mainland up to 50 m depth in areas with a sandy bottom that can be overgrown with seaweed or free from vegetation.
Life cycle
Like all cone snails, Conus textile is sexually separate, and the male mates with the female with his penis . Veliger larvae hatch from the egg capsules , which in turn undergo a metamorphosis into snails. The egg capsules are 31 to 33 mm by 21 to 26 mm in size and contain about 1300 eggs each. The eggs have a diameter of 230 to 270 µm. From this it is concluded that the pelagic period of the Veliger lasts at least 17 to 21 days.
food
Conus textile's prey consists mainly of snails . Weaver cones are also able to prey on highly poisonous fish- or snail-eating cone snails, including Conus pennaceus and Conus striatus . In addition, polychaetes and small fish are eaten. Starved weaver cones also eat conspecifics. Young animals also eat snails immediately after their metamorphosis from the Veliger larva to the finished snail. The poison is deadly to polychaetes, snails, fish and small mammals.
The prey is stabbed in the foot and immediately afterwards the proboscis is withdrawn with the poisonous harpoon. A harpoon tooth is stabbed up to six times in total. The head is then brought up to the mouth of the prey's housing. The eating process takes about 20 minutes.
Importance to humans
Due to its patterned housing, Conus textile is a popular collector's item, so that humans can be regarded as the main enemy. However, it is not included in the red list.
Like other cone snails, the weaver's 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.
literature
- George Washington Tryon: Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Volume 6, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 1884, pp. 89f ( C [onus] textile Linn. ).
- Jerry G. Walls: Cone Shells: A Synopsis of the Living Conidae. TFH Publications, Neptune (New Jersey) 1979, p. 900.
- Dieter Röckel, Werner Korn, Alan J. Kohn: Manual of the Living Conidae. Volume 1: Indo-Pacific Region. Verlag Christa Hemmen, Wiesbaden 1995 (The texts on the individual cone snail species of the Indo-Pacific are published on The Conus Biodiversity website with the permission of the authors (see web links)).
Web links
- The Conus Biodiversity Website: Conus textile Linnaeus, 1758
- Underwater Kwajalein: Conus textile Linnaeus, 1758 . The pictures show how a Nassarius papillosus is captured and a pink bursa fends off an attack by Conus textile .
- Conus textile in the Red List of Endangered Species of the IUCN 2013.2. Posted by: Duda, T., 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ George Washington Tryon : Manual of Conchology. Volume 6, 1879, p. 90.
- ↑ Stephen Coombes: The Geometry and Pigmentation of Seashells (PDF; 3.3 MB) In: www.maths.nottingham.ac.uk . University of Nottingham . February 2009. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
- ^ Fischhaus Zepkow: Family Conidae - cone snails