Abstract
Specimens of the Indo-Pacific piscivorous gastropod Conus magus Linnaeus, 1758 were either collected by SCUBA in the field in Palau (1983–1984) or raised in the laboratory from egg capsules. C. magus captures adult fish with a specially modified radula tooth. Radula morphology was analyzed in a size range of individuals from 4.1 to 43.7 mm shell length, which encompassed early postmetamorphic juveniles to adults. Post-metamorphic C. magus juveniles are too small to consume fish, and all individuals below 9 mm possess a juvenile radula tooth totally different from that of the adult and resembling that of some vermivorous Conus species. The only food remains found in the digestive tracts of juveniles were the setae of syllid polychaetes. All individuals above 10.5 mm possessed adult teeth and had only fish remains in the gut. Two specimens, 10.1 and 9.2 mm in shell length, had intermediate-type radula teeth.
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Communicated by J. M. Lawrence, Tampa
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Nybakken, J., Perron, F. Ontogenetic change in the radula of Conus magus (Gastropoda). Mar. Biol. 98, 239–242 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391200
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391200