Appearance
The size of an adult shell varies between 30 mm and 79 mm. The shell is white, usually with two or three light yellowish bands, marked with very dark brown revolving spots.Distribution
This marine species is found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific from the coast of East Africa (off Madagascar and Chagos) to Australia (the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia), Polynesia and the Ryukyu Islands (but not along Hawaii)Status
IUCN: Least ConcernHabitat
Found on shallow sandy areas from 3-63 m.Reproduction
Members of the order Neogastropoda are mostly gonochoric and broadcast spawners. Life cycle: Embryos develop into planktonic trocophore larvae and later into juvenile veligers before becoming fully grown adults.Food
Coneshells are carnivorous gastropods which catch prey organisms such as fish and shellfish byt shooting a venom-containing harpoon-like radular tooth. This is also used as a defense mechanisms and their venom is so potent that it has caused human fatalities.Uses
The venom peptides of cone snails are encoded by a large gene family, and can selectively bind to voltage-gated ion channels (Na+, K+ and Ca2+ channels) and to membrane receptors (nAChR, 5-HT3R, NMDAR). This has interest from the pharmacological point of view. For example, eburnetoxin produced by Conus eburneus has interest as vasoactive substance.References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conus_eburneushttp://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=215559
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/192700/2144109
https://www.sealifebase.ca/summary/Conus-eburneus.html
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-74560-7_3
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041010112005223?via%3Dihub
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7144426
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26601961
