Kingdom Animalia Clade Caenogastropoda Clade Neogastropoda Scientific name Conus lividus Rank Species | Class Gastropoda Clade Hypsogastropoda Superfamily Conoidea Phylum Mollusca | |
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Similar Conus ebraeus, Conus coronatus, Conus sanguinolentus, Conus arenatus, Conus flavidus | ||
Conus lividus, common name the livid cone, is a species of sophisticated predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails, cone shells or cones.
Contents
Like all species within the genus Conus, these snails are predatory and venomous. They are capable of "stinging" humans, therefore live ones should be handled carefully or not at all.
Description
The size of an adult shell varies between 25 mm and 81 mm. The moderate spire is coronated, depressed conical. It shows prominent nodules on shoulders of the whorls. The lower half of the body whorl is distantly striated, and the striae sparsely granulous. The color of the shell is light yellowish or fawn, olivaceous to orange-brown. The tubercles of the spire and a band below the shoulder, as well as a single central band on the body whorl, are white. The aperture is narrow and purple with faint central, white band. The base and the interior are violaceous. The epidermis is somewhat tufted in distant revolving series.
Distribution
This cone snail has a very wide distribution. It is found in the Red Sea, in the Indian Ocean off Aldabra, Chagos, Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania and the West Coast of South Africa; in the entire Pacific Ocean.; off Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia).
Habitat
This species can be found around rocks and coral reefs in shallow water.
