Subtropical species may be found under rocks in the lower intertidal and shallow subtidal zones.

Many tropical cone snails live in or near coral reefs. However, some species are rather adapted to temperate environments, such as the Cape coast of South Africa, and indeed are endemic to these regions. This family is typically found in warm and tropical seas and oceans worldwide. The shells of cone snails are often brightly colored and intricately patterned. The sting of a few of the larger species of tropical cone snails can be fatal to a human being. The live animals, however, should be handled with considerable care, as all of them are capable of 'stinging' humans with unpleasant results. These snails hunt and immobilize prey using something resembling a harpoon, which in this case is a modified radular tooth along with a poison gland containing neurotoxins.Ĭone venom shows great promise as a source of new, medically important, substances.

The narrow end of the cone shell is the anterior end, and the wide end shows the usually very low spire of the gastropod shell. The shells of cone snails are shaped like an ice-cream cone. The cone snails or cone shells, sometimes simply known as 'cones', (family Conidae), are a taxonomic family of medium-sized to large, sophisticated predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. Asprella Chelyconus Conus Floraconus Leptoconus

Cone snail