Conus aristophanes is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.
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 18 mm and 47 mm. The shell is violaceous gray, somewhat clouded with pink-white. The revolving lines are milk-white, interrupted by chestnut short dashes and spots. The interior of the aperture is chocolate, with a central white band. spire is more or less raised, striate or sometimes nearly smooth, with or without tubercles. The body whorl is striate, the striae usually granulous towards the base, and sometimes throughout.G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
Distribution This marine species occurs off the Philippines; Papua New Guinea, Tahiti and Fiji; also off Mozambique.
References
Filmer R.M. (2001). A Catalogue of Nomenclature and Taxonomy in the Living Conidae 1758 – 1998. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 388pp. Tucker J.K. (2009). Recent cone species database. September 4, 2009 Edition Tucker J.K. & Tenorio M.J. (2009) Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods. Hackenheim: Conchbooks. 296 pp. Petit, R. E. (2009). George Brettingham Sowerby, I, II & III: their conchological publications and molluscan taxa. Zootaxa. 2189: 1–218 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