Conus fergusoni

Conus fergusoni is a cone snail of the tropical eastern Pacific, a member of the family Conidae ^[1]. It is the largest Conus species of that region: the shell reaches about 153 mm in length ^[2]. It ranges from the Gulf of California to Peru, and within Peru it has been recorded in Tumbes and Piura ^[3].

Sowerby described the species in 1873 from several specimens collected at Panama by a Mr Ferguson ^[4].

An earlier name, Conus fulvocinctus Crosse, 1872, attributed to West Africa, turned out to be based on a specimen of this same species, so in 1979 a request was made to keep the name fergusoni because of its general use ^[4].

The shell is heavy, with a low spire and a body whorl with keeled shoulders; it is white, some specimens carrying two yellowish bands around the base, and the periostracum is velvety and brown. One Peruvian specimen measured 142.6 mm in length and 82.4 mm in diameter ^[3].

Young shells are yellow-orange with rows of dark brown spots, and fade to white as they grow. The coronations on the shoulder persist through at least the eighth whorl, and the periostracum is thin and pale in small shells and thick and dark brown in large ones ^[2].

Similar species

• Conus xanthicus: Immature Conus fergusoni have prominent coronations on the early whorls, which mature Conus xanthicus lack; the suture lies at the shoulder rather than below it, and the two species are also separable by their radula ^[2].

The species lives from the Gulf of California in Mexico to Peru, and also in the Galapagos Islands; the southernmost record McLean and Nybakken give is Isla Lobos de Afuera ^[2].

In Peru it is known from Tumbes (Cancas) and from Piura (Los Órganos, Sechura, Parachique, Las Delicias and off Lobos de Tierra) ^[3].

It occupies sandy and muddy infralittoral bottoms, between 4.6 and 152.4 m depth according to the literature compiled for Peru ^[3].

The radular teeth of adults are long, with serrations along half their length, two barbs, no blade or waist, and an enlarged base bearing a spur ^[2].

The tooth of the smallest specimen examined, 26.1 mm long, is proportionally shorter and has the second barb undeveloped, so the radula changes with growth. The operculum is bluntly unguiculate and about 4 times longer than wide ^[2].

For the genus, the literature notes that cones hunt with a toxoglossan radula whose teeth serve as harpoons to paralyse prey ^[3].

The species is uncommon in the Galapagos Islands and in the central part of its range, where it is mostly known from dredging ^[2].

McLean observed it on shallow rocky bottoms, but it is not restricted to that substrate: he found large numbers on soft bottoms of the shrimp fishing ground in the Gulf of Guayaquil, off the far north of Peru ^[2].

In Peru, 14 specimens collected in 7 lots came from sandy bottom at 3–10 m depth ^[3].

The IUCN classifies it globally as Least Concern in its current assessment ^[5].

Not medical advice. For a sting, a poisoning or an allergy, seek medical care.

Cones fire venom through a single harpoon-like radular tooth, and the Peruvian literature warns that live cone snails of any kind must be handled by hand with great care ^[3].

A study published in 2010 lists the species from localities in Tumbes and Piura, among them Los Órganos, and the material examined came from sandy bottom at 3–10 m depth ^[3].