The Marbled Cone Snail
By Corum DeLacey
I am to learning to inform my audience through an information report
I want you to imagine that you are walking down the tropical beaches of Australia with your fiancee, and you pass the most beautiful snail you have seen in all your years of being alive. You reach in for a stroke at that marvellous golden shell when BAM! You are stunned! You start to realise that could have been the bane of your life. There you are paralysed on the soft, sandy beach floor you cannot breath or see properly and you don’t remember anything. What was that? It was the Marbled Cone Snail…
Habitat
So where does this snail roam? Well, the Marbled Cone snail enjoys the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans as well as the Mediterranean seas, usually near or on coral reefs. These snails are actually fairly common in Australia, Vietnam and the Philippines, however there have been a few sightings in Fiji and Samoa, one even in New Zealand! Do not worry though, chances are you will never see one of these snails at the beach. Wait, so how does a snail kill a fully grown human?
Hunting
If you are wondering how on earth do snails annihilate people, I will explain. If you are somehow seduced into touching or picking one up, it will release a harpoon-like tooth into your body, tough enough to pierce through a wetsuit! Then inject a large amount of lethal venom enough to kill 20 adult humans! After that you are bound to faint and wake up shortly after, suffering immense pain, swelling, numbness, weakness, tingling and memory loss and in severe cases you will experience muscle paralysis, damaged eyesight as well as not being able to speak or hear anything. These snails do not have a sleep timetable so they can hunt at night or day, preferably night because that is when most fish are asleep This leads to their dietary requirements.
Diet
Luckily these snails are not aggressive towards humans, so if you stay away from them you will be fine. The marbled cone snail enjoys feasting on worms and fish, not surprisingly this breed of snail can devour things as big as small snakes, over time that is! Sadly this snail has caused extinction to the Aldabra Atoll which is a passive snail. Yes, the Marbled cone snail actually eats other snails! When the snail eats its prey it has to be extra cautious not to accidentally eat the venom it injected into the animal or else it will also become paralysed! Now you might be thinking how do we identify one? 
Appearance
The Marbled Cone snail is quite large and can vary between 30mm and 300mm, the size of a school ruler! You can easily notice a large cone on top of its back which can be pink, gold, black, brown, white or orange and usually have patterns or spots. Last but not least, Emergency Treatment.
Emergency Treatment
Well, the thing is, there actually is no anti-venom… So good luck, if you end up getting stung by one of these very dangerous snails. However there are a few things that may lower the chances of dieing, make sure you wrap a cloth or gauze bandage and apply pressure will prevent the venom from spreading, in the event of breathing problems perform mouth to mouth, and of course call the ambulance
Now you know that the ferocious Marbled Cone Snail can kill you with ease! Luckily I have identified that they have quite a large shell, live mainly around the coasts of the Indian, and Pacific seas, how they tear apart their prey, their unusual dietary requirements and even ways to help if you are ever harpooned by one! Make sure you stay well away from these menacing creatures!
Very nice. ლ(╹◡╹ლ)
ReplyDelete