You know your staff hates you when...

[AndrewB]

So I was innocently collecting Cerith snails for a customer today when I found something else in the sand. At first glance, I thought it was a fighting conch.

 

Nope...

 

Cone Snail.

 

The adrenaline has now passed...

 

Nice peaceful, safe hobby we have!

[Hilary]

Yikes! Good thing you didn't pick that bad boy up! Should I ask what you did with him?

Edited October 28, 2008 by Hilary

[AndrewB]

That's the problem. I DID pick it up. Got the back end though...

[treesprite]

Do cone snails drill into you or are poisonous or something? I'm glad you didn't get hurt.

[Hilary]

Cone snails are the reason why we tell new divers NOT to pick up the pretty shells they may see during a dive.......

[YBeNormal]

Here's a good article about cone snails: http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/2_1con.htm

[jason the filter freak]

First the fang blenny now this... you just don't have good luck

 

additionally here is a good video

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=cone...amp;oq=cone+sn#

Edited October 28, 2008 by jason the filter freak

[reefmontalvo]

Wow........so how did that little guy get in your tank?

[AndrewB]

The Fang Blenny was hilarious... This one not so much.

 

I really have no idea how the cone snail got in there.

 

I've already called Holmes and Watson Detective Agency to work the case .

[SeanCallan]

First the fang blenny now this... you just don't have good luck

 

additionally here is a good video

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=cone...amp;oq=cone+sn#

 

 

WOW! Awesome video.

 

It's neat the kind of things you find in the ocean.

[saltaquaman]

When I was stationed on Guam and snorkled a lot you could find them everywhere, along with the stonefish and morays. Many of them are beautiful but their toxin will paralyze you, at least long enough to make sure you drowned. It is neat to see them spear a small fish and eat it.

[Lee Stearns]

I used to keep a large textile cone in my tank in Hawaii and in Japan to solely eat the cowreys that I wanted to keep- very efficient hunters and eat the the flesh without any dammage to the shell. Neat to see them track down and home in on a cowrey- then they have a hollow tube hypodermic needle like that they inject thier poison with. They usually use once and then grow another. The cowrey limps off and then the textile cone would follow the slime trail for his meal when he caught up.

Might seem a bit sadistic- but it is just nature and really neat to watch.

[lanman]

I used to keep a large textile cone in my tank in Hawaii and in Japan to solely eat the cowreys that I wanted to keep- very efficient hunters and eat the the flesh without any dammage to the shell. Neat to see them track down and home in on a cowrey- then they have a hollow tube hypodermic needle like that they inject thier poison with. They usually use once and then grow another. The cowrey limps off and then the textile cone would follow the slime trail for his meal when he caught up.

Might seem a bit sadistic- but it is just nature and really neat to watch.

 

Awesome! I have a fine cowrie shell collection. I always had to take them home, and throw them on an ant pile to get the guts out. I have a few gold ring cowries in my 240 - I'm always on the lookout for small cowries to add to the tank. Alive... Would love to find some caput serpentis!

 

Only a few of the cones are potent enough to hurt a person. Like the textile and glory-of-the-seas cones.

 

bob