Puzzled Cone Shell, Conasprella perplexa

Puzzled Cone Shell, Conasprella perplexa. Shell collected off the beach at Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur, May 2022. Size: 3.0 cm (1.2 inches) x 1.9 cm (0.7 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Colin Campbell, DVM, Punta Chivato, Baja California Sur.

The Puzzled Cone, Conasprella perplexa (G. B. Sowerby II, 1857, is a gastropod mollusk that is a member of the Conidae Family of Cones. They are known as cono perplejo in Mexico. They are a yellowish-white color with variable spiral rows of dots and dashes. Their aperture is purple. The shell is covered with a thin periostracum. Puzzled Cones reach a maximum of 2.5 cm (1.0 inch) in height and 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) in diameter.

Puzzled Cones are found on and within sand and rock substrate from the intertidal zone offshore.

Within Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean the Puzzled Cone Shells are found within Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, throughout the Sea of Cortez, and south along the coast of the mainland to Guatemala.

Synonyms include Conus perplexus, Perplexiconus perplexus and Ximeniconus perplexus.