Conidae are marine snails and one that I personally love. Many species with beautiful texture, colours and patterns. Some very famous species such as the Conus gloriamaris and Conus milneedwardsi command high prices and held in high esteem among collectors, even to this day.
The snails within this family are sophisticated predatory animals. They hunt and immobilize prey using a modified radular tooth along with a venom gland containing neurotoxins; the tooth is launched out of the snail’s mouth in a harpoon-like action.
Until 1993, with the taxonomic changes proposed by Taylor, Conidae contained only Conus species, but then the family was split into several subfamilies, including many which were previously in the family Turridae. As a result of that change, the Conus species were moved to the subfamily Coninae. Current taxonomic changes as of 2009 and 2011, based upon molecular phylogeny, have elevated the subfamilies which were previously in the family Turridae to the status of families in their own right, leaving the family Conidae once again containing the species which were traditionally placed in that family.
There are around 30 records of humans killed by a cone snail. Human victims suffer little pain, because the venom contains an analgesic component. Some species can kill a human in under 5 minutes, from where the name “cigarette snail” (Conus geographus) as one only has time to smoke a cigarette before dying. The molluscs can attack if provoked and can sting through a wetsuit with their harpoon, which resembles a transparent needle.
Normally cone snails (and many species in the superfamily Conoidea) use the venom to immobilize prey. It consists of a mixture of peptides, called conopeptides. Their venom is made up of 10 to 30 amino acids, but occasionally as many as 60. The venom of each cone snail species may contain as many as 200 pharmacologically active components. It is estimated that more than 50,000 conopeptides can be found because every species of cone snail is thought to produce its own specific venom.