Conus aemulus (common name - amber marbled cone snail) is a species of sea snail, a cone snail (family Conidae, genus Conus, subgenus Lautoconus).Reeve, 1844, via Wikipedia Lautoconus. Amber marbled cone snails are marine gastropod mollusks.
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 the shell varies between 20 mm and 58 mm. Distribution and usage This species occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off Angola, in shallow waters. Their habitat strip is restricted around 40 km long, but they are not endangered, although they may be susceptible to threats of oil pollution, or other pollution from the nearby city of Luanda.
They are sometimes gathered for their shells to be sold, but the market is not large.
References
Gofas, S.; Afonso, J.P.; Brandào, M. (Ed.). (S.a.). Conchas e Moluscos de Angola = Coquillages et Mollusques d'Angola. [Shells and molluscs of Angola]. Universidade Agostinho / Elf Aquitaine Angola: Angola. 140 pp. Puillandre N., Duda T.F., Meyer C., Olivera B.M. & Bouchet P. (2015). One, four or 100 genera? A new classification of the cone snails. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 81: 1–23
External links
The Conus Biodiversity website Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea