Conus fulmen, common name the thunderbolt cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.
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 from 45 mm and 80 mm.
The shell is somewhat elongately ovate, smooth and slightly grooved towards the base. The color of the shell is pale rose-purple, white round the middle; longitudinally marked with two or three very prominent, broad, waved, purple-brown streaks. The spire is obtusely convex, variegated with purple-brown. The apex is rose-tinted.George Washington Tryon, Manual of Conchology vol. VI, p. 65; 1879
Distribution This marine species occurs off Vietnam and South Japan to the Ryukyus
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. 4 September 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
Gallery
External links
The Conus Biodiversity website
Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea