Conus eucoronatus Sowerby III, 1903

Franklin, J. Benjamin, Subramanian, K. A., Fernando, S. Antony & Krishnan, K. S., 2009, 2250, Zootaxa 2250, pp. 1-63 : 28

21. Conus eucoronatus Sowerby III, 1903 (Figure 22)

Conus eucoronatus Sowerby III, 1903: 217 , pl. 3, fig. 9 (lectotype, SAMC (45 x 25 mm) ( Coomans et al. 1986); " Cape St. Blaize bearing N. 850 W.; distant 4 ½ miles").

Material examined: MBMCS 121 , 2 specimens, SL 32–35 mm; SW 18–20 mm .

Description. Shell moderately heavy, biconic. Shoulder broad and angulate with many small tubercles. Spire moderately high, sharply pointed, sides straight. Body whorl with 15 broad, flat spiral ribbons from base to shoulder, axially striate. Aperture wide and uniform in width, outer lip thin and sharp.

Ground colour white, body whorl with spirally arranged dark or light brown blotches. Aperture white. Periostracum pale yellow and thin.

Distribution. Röckel et al. (1995) reported the occurrence of C. eucoronatus in south India. Kohn (2001) reported a specimen trawled at 400 m off Kanyakumari.

The specimens described herein were collected from Tuticorin ( Table 6) from the discards of the fishingboats trawled at 50–200 m.

Remarks. Conus eucoronatus is a rare deep water species of Conus known for its unique shape, sculpture and pattern ( Röckel et al. 1995). The specimen presently collected is the largest (35 mm), compared to the previous recorded (28 mm) by Röckel et al. (1995) from India.