Phylogeny: Cone Shells of the Conidae Family are gastropod mollusks in the order Neogastropoda. Neogastropods are characterized by having a long siphonal canal, a well developed siphonal notch,  and a specialized radula. Many species in this order have a narrow aperture. Neogastropods are primarily marine snails and most of the well-known shell families are in this order. The Conidae Family is one of seventeen families in the superfamily Conoidea. Conoideans include venomous shells such as auger shells and turrid shells. The Conidae Family contains eight genera – Californiconus with one species, Conasprella with one hundred seventy-five species, Conus with eight hundred thirty-four species, Kenyonia with one species, Lilliconus with eight species, Profundiconus with thirty-one species, Pseudolilliconus with four species, and Pygmaeconus with eight species. These shells are commonly referred to as Conids.

Description: Cone Shells are small to large-sized, solid, and conical in shape. They are broad at the top of the body whorl and taper to the anterior end. The spire may be very low to moderately high, and it may be flat-sided or stair-stepped. The shoulder may be smooth or marked with beads or nodes. The body whorl is generally smooth, with spiral grooves at the anterior end. A few species have cancellate or pustulose sculpting. The aperture is long and narrow, with uniform width. The outer lip is thin, sharp, and fragile. Cone Shells come in a variety of beautiful colors and patterns, especially those from tropical waters. Often these colors are hidden beneath a periostracum that may be thin and translucent, or thick and dark. They have long, claw-shaped, opercula, which are much smaller than their apertures. The largest Cone Shells reach a maximum of 23 cm (9.1 inches) in length.

Habitat and Distribution: Cone Snails are found in sand, under rocks and rubble, or crawling on hard substrates. They live intertidally, and at depths up to 250 m (820 feet). Some sources extend the maximum depth to over 500 m (1,640 feet).  Cone Shells are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters. There are twenty species of Cone Shells found in Mexican waters.

Natural History: Cone Snails are predatory carnivores. They may be vermivores that prey on molluscivores that feed on other mollusks, piscivores that feed on fish, worms, or generalists that feed on all the above. They capture their food by use of a venomous harpoon-like radula. In turn Cones are preyed upon by crabs, fish, and other predatory mollusks. They are primarily nocturnal. Cone Shells are gonochoric and reproduce sexually, with internal fertilization. The eggs are laid in protective capsules.

While many people are aware that Cones can sting humans, there is a lot of misinformation regarding just how big a threat they pose. The first recorded incident of a person stung by a Cone Shell was in 1706. Since that time, only eighteen species of Cones, out of more than one thousand species in the Family, have been implicated in human envenomation. Most incidents of Cone envenomation occur when handling live Cones. A lesser number occur when waders step on or near a Cone and are stung in the foot. Cone venom contains a very powerful neurotoxin, know as a conotoxin, which blocks nerve action. Most fatalities happen when the blocked nerve action results in respiratory failure. Unlike some venomous animals, larger Cone Snails deliver more venom per sting than smaller individuals.

One study, focused on a forty year period in the last half of the 1900’s. That study found a total of one hundred thirty-nine reliably reported Cone stings, worldwide. Of that number, thirty-six were fatal, fifty-seven resulted in serious medical conditions, and forty-four were considered to be minor. Almost all fatalities involved one Cone species, the Geography Cone, Conus geographus. Geography Cones have a wide distribution in the Indio-Pacific but have not been documented as residents of Mexican waters. Common sense dictates that all Cone Shells should be treated with respect. If you must handle a Cone Shell, hold it by the wide end. This does not guaranty safety, because the proboscis which launches the sting is, in some species, as long as the shell itself. Gloves also do not guaranty safety because Cone Shell stings have been known to penetrate 5 mm wetsuit material.

Chemicals found within Cone Shell venom, the conotoxins, are currently in use in medicine to treat human neurological illnesses and as very powerful pain killers. With ongoing research numerous new applications may be found. We believe that your chances of being harmed by a Cone mollusk are less than your chances of being helped by one.