Conus gloriamaris
Conus gloria maris case of
Conus gloria maris, of a snail from the family of cone snails is "Glory of the Sea" ( genus Conus ).
Features
The body handling the snail shell of Conus gloria maris is narrowly conical, convex towards the thread. For adult snails the house reaches a length from 7.5 to 16.2 cm. The basic color of the case is white. The surface of the body intercourse is covered by a network of colored orange-brown to brown lines that form a pattern characteristic of many small to tiny white, dark brown edged triangles. In between are yellowish- brown spots with dark brown axial lines, usually arranged in three rows or bands. The thread whose whorls are clearly graded, forms a moderately high cone. It bears a similar design as the body handling. The periostracum is yellowish to brownish gray, thin, translucent and smooth. The case of Conus gloria maris similar in drawing Conus textile, however, is considerably narrower and straighter, not bulbous.
The top of the white base is mottled brown with a series of dark brown dots in the margin. In front the edge of the foot is colored orange and has a central black spot. The rear edge zones are visible brown drawn. The sole is speckled brown and beige. The head is white or brown with dark brown stripes. The tips of the probes are brown on the outside. The siphon is cream color with brown speckles and a wide black ring in the middle.
Dissemination
Conus gloria maris occurs around the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Fiji and East Indonesia.
Habitat
Conus gloria maris lives in 10 to 300 m depth on sand.
Food
Conus gloria maris eats mollusks.
Relevance to humans
Conus gloria maris is due to its patterned housing a popular collector's item, so that man can be considered as a major enemy. Already Johann Hieronymus Chemnitz wore in 1777 when with the publication of his first description to the myth that this cone snail particularly rare and precious was by him, as he wrote in the title, this " extraordinarily rare type roller-like hooting or Kegelschnekken " the name Gloria Maris, " glory of the Sea " was. The natural habitat of this snail has long been unknown, so that thousands of U.S. dollars were paid for individual shells, of which only two dozen were in circulation. This led to many a legend: So is 1792 a collector who already had a shell of " Gloria maris ", have acquired another copy at auction in order to destroy it and so to preserve the value of his own property. In 1969 the species was rediscovered in their natural habitat, so that the unit prices have since fallen to less than 100 U.S. dollars. Nevertheless, the house of the cone snail has remained a popular, relatively expensive collector's item.
Like other cone snail Conus gloria maris sets his harpoon toxic not only to catch prey, but also for defense. Thus it can deal with its fangs and people threatening injuries.