Hi Conch-L'ers,
 
After Paul Textile had made his calculated attack
on Emilio Bandanus, he seemed satisfied, and
headed toward the opposite side of the aquarium.
I picked up my camera and was trying to get the
thing to focus on Paul as he was exiting the scene
when, through the viewfinder, I watched a different
proboscis extend from the rubble and harpoon
Paul in the side of the foot!  Paul flinched, as all
the cones have when they are stung, but continued
on to the other side of the aquarium and stopped
with his siphon against the glass.  Art came crawl-
ing from the spot where he had ambushed Paul,
and went over to investigate his victim.  He didn't
seemed particularly interested in Paul any longer,
and after a ten minute stroll, buried himself in the
rubble again, this time with the tip of his siphon
exposed.
 
Paul remained motionless against the aquarium
glass for about an hour, and it was beginning to
look like conus textile venom is deadly to another
conus textile.  Paul proved otherwise, though, and
after a while he made another round of the aquarium.
He ignored Emilio this time, then buried himself near
the front glass.  He also left the tip of his siphon
exposed, and when one of the fish moved a rock or
I tapped on the side of the tank, he would extend
his proboscis and "feel" for any potential prey
moving about!
 
I was just about convinced that Emilio was on his
way to bandanus heaven when he began to crawl
forward, and then buried himself in the rubble.  He
continued forward until his siphon was also against
the front glass of the aquarium, only a couple of
inches from the spot where his nemesis, Paul,
was buried.  All was calm for some time after that,
and as it appeared that things had settled down for
the evening, I shut off the lights and went to bed.
 
The next day things looked essentially as I had
left them.  There were no stray shells on the bottom
of the aquarium, and I could clearly see Paul and
Emilio against the glass.  I could also see where
Art was hiding, as his siphon or proboscis would
occasionally protrude from the rubble.  He had
settled back into what must be his normal ambush
position, barely under the surface of the aquarium
floor.  As I watched the two conus textiles extend
their proboscides in response to any movement in
the tank, I noticed that Art's was quite a bit darker
than Paul's, which was only pale pink.  Diet, or
lack thereof, possibly?  While I pondered the color
difference, an oblivious cypraea caurica stumbled
around the corner, headed straight for Paul Textile's
hiding place.
 
As the caurica approached, Paul extended his
proboscis to full length, whipping it around in an
attempt to locate his potential breakfast.  The
cowry never seemed to detect the cone in front
of him, even though Paul was certainly aware of
the cowry's presence.  The caurica continued for-
ward until Paul's proboscis was raking across the
front of his shell, and then he froze.  Did you ever
wonder whether a cowry can crawl backwards?
This one did.  And he didn't just raise up and turn,
but his foot undulated in reverse motion, and he
moved directly backward about an inch!  Paul
never seemed to figure out where the cowry went,
and maintained his ambush position without giving
chase.  After the caurica had backed up, he turned
and climbed up on the glass, making an arc above
Paul's hiding spot, and then resuming his rounds
on the gravel once he was clear of the danger zone.
Paul went without breakfast.
 
Nothing else of note happened that morning, and all
was calm when I darkened the living room that
evening.  It didn't take long for the conus tulipa to
sense that "nightfall" had come, and within a few
minutes he had resumed his nightly hunting.  He
started out by climbing the glass, but in a short
while had worked his way down to the bottom per-
imeter of the tank, obviously on course to crawl
directly over Emilio Bandanus.  I reached for my
camera and waited.
 
As the tulipa continued toward Emilio, the bandanus
sensed his approach, and began to extend his pro-
boscis.  The tulipa was crawling on the glass just
above Emilio when he struck.  A quick sting, and the
conus tulipa fell from the glass, toppling onto his back.
He landed almost directly on Emilio's dorsum, and the
conus bandanus spent the next thirty minutes clumsily
attempting to reposition himself to finish off the tulipa.
During this time the conus tulipa exhibited the same
symptoms that the other cones had shown after being
stung: he could move his siphon in and out, and could
extend or retract his foot, but was unable to crawl or
get any grip on the aquarium glass.
 
Emilio did finally get himself and his victim oriented
suitably, then harpooned the tulipa a second time
for good measure.  The tulipa did not flinch this time.
Emilio then wrapped his "mouth" around a section
of the tulipa's foot, beginning near the posterior end,
and then slowly stretched it down over the anterior
part of the foot.  As the tulipa withdrew into it's shell,
Emilio went in with it.  For two hours the bandanus
slowly extracted his victim, and you could even see
the colors of the tissue being ingested through the
semi-transparent tube that the bandanus used for
feeding.  For about an hour of that time, Emilio also
had his siphon inserted into the tulipa shell.  Could
he tell by "smell" how the extraction was progressing?
 
After Emilio had completely removed the conus tulipa
from it's shell, he cast it aside and worked on getting
himself and his new meal back into his shell.  The
tulipa wasn't terribly large, but the thin shell holds a
lot of animal!  I had guessed that the bandanus would
settle down and hide for a day or so until he could
completely retract into his shell, but Emilio didn't.  It
hadn't been too long since he had eaten Andy Omaria,
so he wasn't empty and starving, but within about
twenty minutes of finishing off the tulipa he had man-
aged to get his gut and foot both back into his shell.
Emilio, now fat and happy, buried his nose in the
gravel and all was quiet in the aquarium once again.
 
The aquarium remained quiet for the next two days.
I could still see a proboscis or siphon tip emerge from
the gravel occasionally, so I knew where Art and Paul
were hiding.  If only Emilio had known.  Emilio, now
recovered from his feasting, decided to check out the
territory on the other side of the aquarium.  He pulled
himself from the rubble, and slowly crawled toward the
middle of the tank, directly into Art Textile's ambush.
As he passed over Art, the results were predictable.
Art reached up and harpooned Emilio, and since he
was directly above the anterior tip of Art's shell, the
trick he had used on Paul didn't work.  I now believe
that Paul must not have been successful in all his
attempts at stinging the conus bandanus, because
the sting from Art stopped Emilio dead in his tracks.
With Emilio withdrawn into his shell, it was hard to
tell if Art stung him more than once, but I suspect
that he did.  In any case, Art made no attempt at
eating the bandanus, be he did crawl from his hiding
place and make a victory lap around the aquarium
before burying himself once again.
 
I watched Emilio carefully over the next two days,
and it was a familiar pattern that I was observing.
Like the others before him, and even his own victims,
Emilio would retract his siphon, then extend it.
At first he could extend his foot slightly, but after
the first day he only seemed capable of moving his
siphon.  I checked on him a couple of times each
day to see if he was still alive, but like all of the
other "Cone Wars" victims, on the third day after
being stung he was dead.
 
And so ends this volume of the Cone Wars.
Salute all the warriors, but hail Conus Textile,
Champion of the Cone Wars.
 
EPILOGUE
========
 
The Cone Wars "experiment" was hardly scientific,
but it was educational for me, and I hope others
enjoyed it, too.  I learned several cone and cowry
survival strategies, as well as getting a glimpse
of the hunting methods that a few different species
employ.
 
The conus textiles are certainly survivors, with a
compulsion (and the equipment) to eliminate any
potential competitors.  The conus canonicus sur-
vived mostly by staying out of the way of the bad
guys, as did one of the conus omarias.  All but
one of the original cypraea cauricas survived by
using a variety of strategies, and then of course
there is Helmut...
 
I am leaving Samoa for the the next couple of
months to spend the summer in the U.S., and
I'm removing all the inhabitants of the aquarium
except for a few.  I am keeping Art, Paul, Ross,
and Gary, and a few cowries for them to chase.
Helmut will be returned to the spot on reef that he
inhabited before his last address change, since
I figure he earned his freedom.  I really don't have
the heart to freeze him, and besides, the lynx
population would likely benefit from his (her?)
contribution to the gene pool.
 
I'll be off Conch-L after Friday, 21 May, and will be
unable to access this e-mail address, but may be
reached at:
 
[log in to unmask]
 
I'll return to Samoa the first week of August.
 
Thanks for all your comments, and best to all
you Conch-L'ers!  Cheers,
 
 
 
Don