1. RACHEL JOY ELLORIN - Master’s Degree, Biology, Polytechnic University of The Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila, Philippines.
2. LENN ROSE CAWALING - Master’s Degree, Biology, Polytechnic University of The Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila, Philippines.
3. JIMIWELL R. BERNABE - Research Assistant, Research Institute for Science and Technology (RIST), Master’s Degree, Biology,
Polytechnic University of The Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila, Philippines.
4. MARIAN JEREMY D. AGGABAO - Research Assistant, Research Institute for Science and Technology (RIST), Master’s Degree, Biology,
Polytechnic University of The Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila, Philippines.
5. ALVIN N. CARIL - LPT, Faculty Researcher, Research Institute for Science and Technology (RIST) of the Polytechnic
University of The Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila, Philippines.
6. NOEL A. SAGUIL - Ph.D., Chief of the Center for Engineering and Technology Research (CETR), Research Institute for
Science and Technology (RIST) of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Sta. Mesa, Manila,
Philippines.
Cone snails utilize a hollow radular tooth to inject their target prey. The modification of this apparatus allows the predatory and venomous species to defend and hunt. The cone snail diet can be characterized into three feeding groups: piscivorous, molluscivorous, and vermivorous. A PRISMA-compliant systematic review was performed to compare similarities and differences of the radula from each feeding group. Studies comparing the radular morphological structures of five piscivorous Conus species, five molluscivorous, and three vermivorous Conus species eligible for inclusion were listed on ResearchGate and Google Scholar (September 2021). Seven (7) studies were screened for inclusion. The analysis of piscivorous radula to have two general types were consistently reported among included studies. Moreover, reports also conclusively stated the ontogenic changes in C. magus' radula, its highly analogous description to C. catus, and the elongated and simpler radula beneficial for the feeding strategy of C. geographus and C. tulipa. A high degree of similarity in terms of narrowness and simplicity of molluscivorous to piscivorous radula was also a common finding among studies. The extreme absolute length of C. textile; was similar to that of C. geographus, which employs a similar feeding strategy, and the shaft width percentage of C. marmoreus resembles that of C. catus. Studies also consistently emphasized the heightened interspecific variation observed in vermivorous radula. Despite the absence of description in some chosen Conus species, the information in this review provided consistency and implied a high correlation of feeding strategy to radular morphology.
Conus, PRISMA, Interspecific Variation, Molluscivorous, Piscivorous, Radula, Vermivorous