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This march 17th 2005, while night scuba outside the reef, around 12m of water, Patrick DELESTE (a non-collector friend) and I have seen a rare thing in the natural habitat : a cone shell (Conus aulicus) attacking its prey (Cypraea talpa).

First, what a surprise when my light spots this nice species crawling along a rocky slope head down. I immediately identify the specimen to be a Conus aulicus (very uncommon species there) ! It's not a giant but what a beauty ! He crawles fastly like if it was attracted by something... 30 to 40 cm under it, a juvenile
Cypraea talpa is hidden in a crevice.

It really moves straight ahead to the cowrie and when arrived near the prey, it move to put itself in good "harpooning position". We saw then the cowrie mantle which retracts, the toxin acting rapidly... All that happened in less than two minutes !

Many thanks to Patrick qui, who was alerted by my light signals and came toward me and manage to make these nice shots !

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