Conus



Conus is a genus of venomous and predatory sea snails, or cone snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae. Prior to 2009, it included all cone snail species but is now more precisely defined, as are other cone snail genera.

Description
The thick shell of species in the genus Conus sensu stricto, is obconic, with the whorls enrolled upon themselves. The spire is short, smooth or tuberculated. The narrow aperture is elongated with parallel margins and is truncated at the base. The operculum is very small relative to the size of the shell. It is corneous, narrowly elongated, with an apical nucleus, and the impression of the muscular attachment varies from one-half to two-thirds of the inner surface. The outer lip shows a slight sutural sinus.

Distribution and habitat
Species in the genus Conus sensu stricto can be found in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at depths ranging from the sublittoral (c. 200 m) to 1,000 m (656 to 3,280 ft). They are very variable in some of their characters, such as the tuberculation of the spire and body whorl, striae, colors and the pattern of coloring.

The oldest known fossil of Conus is from the lower Eocene, about 55 million years ago.