Conus tinianus (ruddy cone snail) 2 : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Conus tinianus (ruddy cone snail) 2 / James St. John
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
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| 説明 | Conus tinianus Hwass in Bruguiere, 1792 - ruddy cone snail shell (abapertural view), modern (latest Holocene). (public display, Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA)The gastropods (snails & slugs) are a group of molluscs that occupy marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Most gastropods have a calcareous external shell (the snails). Some lack a shell completely, or have reduced internal shells (the slugs & sea slugs & pteropods). Most members of the Gastropoda are marine. Most marine snails are herbivores (algae grazers) or predators/carnivores.The conid gastropods (cone shells) are fascinating marine snails for a couple reasons - they have attractively-shaped, colorful shells and they are killers. The conids are predatory, as are many other marine snails, but they take down their prey in an unusual fashion. The radula of most snails is a mineralized or heavily sclerotized mass of small teeth that scrapes across a substrate during feeding. Conid snails have a toxoglossate radula - one that has been evolutionarily modified into tiny, unattached, toxin-bearing, harpoon-like darts (see photo - science.naturkundemuseum-bw.de/files/images/niederhofer_2...) that can be fired at prey. Each dart is an individual tooth. The nickname "killer snails" is well deserved (even people have been killed). Some species have incredibly powerful toxins, while in other species the toxin has little effect on humans.The ruddy cone snail shown above is part of the South African Province: "The huge waves and cool waters of South Africa have produced a molluscan fauna dominated along its rocky shores by large limpets and abalones. Its beaches are often strewn with colorful, offshore cones, trochids and volutes. At certain seasons the cast-off egg-cradles of three species of paper nautiluses are found abundant on some beaches." [info. from museum signage]Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Neogastropoda, Conoidea, Conidae--------------More info. at:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conusanden.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conus_tinianus |
| 撮影日 | 2016-01-02 16:43:22 |
| 撮影者 | James St. John |
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