Conus gloriamaris Chemnitz, 1777
Glory of the Seas
cone, ~120mm
Conus
gloriamaris is one of the most famous of the cone shells. For a long time,
it was a great rarity and commanded high prices. After its habitat in the Solomon
Islands was discovered, it began to turn up in similar environments in other
areas, or be brought up by trawling from deeper waters. In the Solomons, we
saw several specimens on muddy slopes around Guadalcanal at Kakambona and near
the mouth of the Lungga River. Off the river, they were buried around the edges
of tree trunks that had floated out the river and sunk on the muddy slope. We
saw a pair there inside a concrete pipe laying on the slope. At Kakambona, they
were in the muddy sand usually under piles of accumulated trash at
depths of 15 to 30m. One
pair was buried in the mud under the side of an old oil drum.
63.25mm
86.85mm
Created 22 September 2013
Updated 5 May 2024
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