Conus gloriamaris

For centuries the shell of the Conus gloriamaris was considered as the rarest in the world. Long even 18 cm and with drawings recalling the small white overlapped triangles of the Conus bengalensis, was sold at astronomical prices. But in recent times with the discovery of the habitat and the modern underwater equipments its price has collapsed to a few tens of Euros and is mainly required for its history. It lives in the Indo-Pacific, frequent in the Solomon Islands but also in the Philippines waters, Indonesia, and New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji between 5 and 300 m of depth. It mainly nourishes of mollusks it seizes and kills with its venom like the other Conus © Giuseppe Mazza