Conus flavescens, common name the flame cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.Bouchet, P. (2015). Conus flavescens G. B. Sowerby I, 1834. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=420210 on 2015-04-29
There is one subspecies: Conus flavescens caribbaeus Clench, 1942 (synonyms: Conus caribbaeus Clench, 1942, Gradiconus flavescens caribbaeus (Clench, 1942), Tuckericonus caribbaeus (Clench, 1942), Tuckericonus flavescens caribbaeus (Clench, 1942))
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.
Distribution Locus typicus: "Sowerby (1858) gave South Australia as the type locality which is incorrect. Clench (1942) suggested that "the original specimens may have come from the Bahamas". This area is here selected Locus typicus."Vink, D. 1987 -La Conchiglia XIX, No. 204-205, The Conidae of the Western Atlantic, Part VII, Page 25.
This marine species occurs in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico off Florida, USA, the Greater Antilles and off the Bahamas.
Description The maximum recorded shell length is 25 mm.Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. . The smooth shell is grooved towards the base. Its color is yellowish, variegated with large irregular white blotches, arranged mostly just below the shoulder angle, and below the middle of the body whorl, so as to form two interrupted bands.G.W. Tryon (1884) Manual of conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species, vol. VI; Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences
Habitat Minimum recorded depth is 0 m. Maximum recorded depth is 122 m.
References
David K. Camp, William G. Lyons, and Thomas H. Perkins: Checklists of Selected Shallow-Water Marine Invertebrates of Florida; Florida Marine Research Institute, FMRI Technical Report TR-3, ISSN 1092-194X 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 Cone Shells – Knights of the Sea
Gallery
Below are several color forms: