Conus purus Pease, 1863
Purus cone, 66.6mm

These are relatively common on some shallow reefs in Hawaii. We saw them in numbers at Ala Moana reef, Hauula and Campbell Park near Barbers Point. Long considered a form of the more widespread Conus pennaceus, it was renamed C. leviteni in 2011 and considered Hawaii endemic. More recently, it was determined that Pease's C. purus is an earlier name. The darker brown variety with fine tent markings (the first photo) is a rare form that was long considered another species called elisae, but a researcher in Hawaii raised a clutch of Conus pennaceus eggs and the larvae developed into both forms. A more typical color form is seen in the next two photos stinging and eating the animal out of a Cribrarula gaskoini.

Large 66.6mm empty shell below.

Created 22 September 2013
Updated 27 December 2020

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