A rare sight- A live Conus textile (Linnaeus, 1758) on the prowl, siphon extended.
Cone snails are one of the most venomous creatures on earth. Among the most toxic are the textile, geographic, and tulip snails and there is a higher risk of death if the geographic and textile snails are involved. All capture their prey by means of harpoon-like hollow teeth (radula) that are rapidly jabbed into their prey to inject the toxic venom. Attacks on humans usually occur when a cone snail is either stepped on in the ocean or picked up from the water or the beach.There are known human fatalities from this species.
Their geographical distribution is throughout the Indo-Pacific region, Australia, and the Indian Ocean from eastern Africa to Hawaii and French Polynesia.
The textile cone lives in the sand beneath coral and rocks in shallow waters. If you do come across one, admire quickly and walk away. Do not pick one up…..
This lesson we all learned: Stay away from this one!
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🙂 , well… just in case anyone found one and thought “Ooh, I’m sure I saw one on that blog from that woman in the Middle East” and bent down to pick it up… the warning is also a disclaimer of liability!!!
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ok, very good!
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Super, Vicky! Hugs. ❤️
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Positively fascinating, and a beautiful photo, too. My husband collects shells and he has hundreds of cone shells, but I’ve never seen one with the creature still alive. Thanks for the important warning messages!
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Believe me, I would never pick up a snail of any kind. 😀 Great photo, Vicky.
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Amazing! And it looks so harmless.
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Great to see the photo this of rare creature. It’s really awesome.
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Quite a bit of useful information. Beautiful shot!
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