Common Name

"Besse’s Cone"

Status

Regarded as a valid species. According to Tucker: synonym of C. magellanicus Hwass 1792.

Type Locality

Off Cayo Caratasca, Honduras

Distribution

Known only from the area between Punta Patuca and Cayo Caratasca, Honduras

Maximum Reported Size

15 mm

Description

Shell small for the genus, stocky, broad; shoulder sharply angled-angled, subcarinated; spire flattened; body whorl smooth and shiny; aperture narrow; protoconch mammillate, distinctly projecting above flattened spire; anterior tip of the shell with 7 large rounded spiral cords; color white, overlaid with 2 wide bands of bright red-orange irregulate flammules, one above mid-body line and one below; white aeeas below shoulder and around mid body overlaid with rows of tiny orange-brown dots; spire whorls white, with regularly-spaced, triangular, reddish-brown flammules; protoconc and early whorls bright pink; interior of aperture white; anterior tip of the shell white with scattered large very pale orange-red flammules.

Habitat & Habits

On coral rubble bottom at depths of 20 m.

Discussion

C. bessei is most similar to C. kirkandersi but differs ifrom this species in having a smoother, shinier shell, in having bright red-orange flammule bands, and in having rows of tiny orange-brown dots. C. bessei is also similar to C. kalafuti but differs in in being a sotockier, less elongated shell with a proportionally wider shoulder. C. kalafuti with its yellowa and yellow-orange flammules, differs from the bright red-orange flammuled C. bessei. C. kalafuti also lacks the distinctive rows of tiny dots seen on C. bessei.

References

• Conchiglia 23 (264): p. 36, & figs.