Conus - Distribution and Habitat

Distribution and Habitat

There are over 600 different species of cone snails. This family is typically found in warm and tropical seas and oceans worldwide, and reaches its greatest diversity in the Western Indo-Pacific Region. However, some species of Conus are adapted to temperate environments, such as the Cape coast of South Africa, the Mediterranean, or the cool waters of southern California (Conus californicus), and are endemic to these areas.

This genus is found in all tropical and subtropical seas from tidal waters to deeper areas, living on sand or among rocks or coral reefs. When living on sand, these snails will bury themselves with only the siphon protruding from the surface. Many tropical cone snails live in or near coral reefs. Some species are found under rocks in the lower intertidal and shallow subtidal zones.

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