Flea-bite cone

About this species

Conus pulicarius, common name the flea-bitten cone, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Conus pulicarius”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 48 records
February: 51 records
March: 45 records
April: 37 records
May: 51 records
June: 52 records
July: 180 records
August: 48 records
September: 52 records
October: 39 records
November: 39 records
December: 39 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–25 m · Deepest record: 52 m

0–10 m: 38 records
10–20 m: 15 records
20–30 m: 5 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 3 records
24–26 °C: 86 records
26–28 °C: 163 records
28–30 °C: 215 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rosario Douglas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) smathichong, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Hampton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Takaaki Hattori, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Flea-bite cone, Flea-bitten cone, flea-bite cone, flea-bitten cone, Flea Cone

Names in 3 more languages

German: Flohstichkegel
Japanese: ゴマフイモ
Simplified Chinese: 芝麻芋螺

Other scientific names: Conus (Puncticulis) pulicarius, Conus fustigatus, Cucullus punctulatus, Puncticulis pulicarius

Similar species

Sand-dusted cone
Conus arenatus
Captain cone
Conus capitaneus
Cat cone
Conus catus
Astrologer's cone
Conus chaldaeus
Coronated cone
Conus coronatus
Conus distans

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
698 open-data records from 1907 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.