The Genus Conus is distributed
about the area of latitude included between the 40° North and the 40° South parallel in
the following sea
regions:
Indo-Pacific, Panamic,
Caribbean, West African, South African, Peruvian, Patagonic,
;editerranean.
The few species that go farther the 40° N or S parallel are localized
in South Africa, Southern Australia, Southern Japan and Mediterranean Sea.
Cone snails inhabit most of all the intertidal muds and the sand
flats where the low and the high tides alternate, the rocky intertidal areas
and the subtidal flats where the surfacing is accidental.
In this environment the vermivorous cones are very common; less
plentiful the molluscivorous, uncommon the piscivorous ones.
A reasonable number of cones live offshore or in the deep waters up to
400 metres.
Cone snalils are provided with either a very thin or a rather thick shell;
this seems to be due to phylogenic causes rather than to environmental
adaptation.
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