Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Surfing Snails

The violet snail spends its entire life drifting on the surface of warm seas on a bubble raft of its own making. They feed mainly on jellyfish. It starts life as a male and becomes a female over time. Its shell is an inch to inch and a half (3-4 cm) in size and is light and fragile,it is dark purple at the widest part fading to light purple at the narrow top.
The males release their sperm into a case that drifts to a female where the sperm fertilizes the eggs. The eggs develop internally and are born live,the tiny snails are immediately able to build their own rafts. They use their feet to agitate the water and create bubbles which they bind together with mucus. If the raft ever breaks apart the snail will sink into the ocean and die.
violet shell snail

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