Conus pertusus, indo-pacific specie, is a really collector's appreciated coneshell. Maybe for it's marvelous red color when freshly collected. I personally love this specie. It remains a rare coneshell though. Here, in Tahiti it can be found outside the reef or in the lagoon on coral pilings. It's habitat seems to start near 10 meters. So it is often found while scuba. It only hunts at night. It is difficult to find it GEM. I guess it's color makes it easy to spot by shell predators...
It is hard to get during daytime, 'cause it's often hidden into corals and rarely under rocks or dead coral plates. You'll have to night scuba to find it more easily.

Here, in Tahiti, the shells are really nice, with a lot of white spots. Often nicer than all the ones i saw from Philippines for example. It is a small shell, but you can find nice ones around 40mm.
More than 40mm in Tahiti, can be called a monster. I know that in New Caledonia, you can find real giant specimens (60mm!!), i saw one in an old collection.

The periostracum is pale, and you can see it's beautiful colors even live (check the picture above).
But this color will not remain. Even if it will be always red, the best color can be seen only o na freshly collected specimen like on the picture above.

I hope you'll enjoy this small article. If any of you want to add any comment, feel free to send me a mail and i'll update this page.

Bye all,

DAVID TOUITOU