Conidae

Conidae
A group of shells of various species of cone snails
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Superfamily:	Conoidea
Family:	Conidae Fleming, 1822[1]
Subfamilies and genera
See text
Synonyms
Californiconinae Tucker & Tenorio, 2009 Conilithidae Tucker & Tenorio, 2009 Profundiconinae Limpalaër & Monnier, 2018· accepted, alternate representation Puncticulinae Tucker & Tenorio, 2009 Taranteconidae Tucker & Tenorio, 2009

Conidae, with the current common name of "cone snails", is a taxonomic family (previously subfamily) of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Conoidea.

The 2014 classification of the superfamily Conoidea groups only cone snails in the family Conidae. Some previous classifications grouped the cone snails in a subfamily, Coninae.

As of March 2015 Conidae contained over 800 recognized species, varying widely in size from lengths of 1.3 cm to 21.6 cm. Working in 18th-century Europe, Carl Linnaeus knew of only 30 species that are still considered valid.

The snails within this family are sophisticated predatory animals.^[2] They hunt and immobilize prey using a modified radular tooth along with a venom gland containing neurotoxins; the tooth is launched out of the snail's mouth in a harpoon-like action.

Because all cone snails are venomous and capable of "stinging" humans, live ones should be handled with great care or preferably not at all.