Image of Agate Cone

Description:

A specimen of the Turtle of Agate Cone, Conus ermineus Born, 1778, was found and collected at the Flower Garden Bank National Marine Sanctuary at 24 m depth. Note that collection is restricted in the sanctuary's waters; collection is only possible with a research collection, as it was the case. The specimen was sent to Conus expert, Dr. Alan Kohn, who identified it as Conus ermineus. He studied the radula and said it was gigantic. It is now illustrated in his excellent book, Conus of the Southeastern United States and Caribbean (Kohn, 2014), published by Princeton University Press: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10229.html The animal has a long red proboscis, which can extend farther than the length of the shell. All cone snails are poisonous and should be handled with great care. Conus ermineus is one of the piscivorous species, which suggests that its poison could be potentially lethal (although as far as I know there aren't any such records). Included here is a photo of a different specimen to show how the shell of this species looks. Read more about this species in Tunnell et al. (2010) Encyclopedia of Texas Seashells, p. 236.