Walking the beach this past week, I noticed many small purple snails with what looked like a bubbly mass attached. I had not seen them before so naturally, I had to look it up!
This delicate little animal, Janthina janthina, starts life as a free swimming larvae but then develops into a male snail. Later, it morphs into a female who then carries her little pink eggs in her bubble raft until they hatch. This bubble raft is made by the adult snail so it can float just below the surface where it feeds on jellyfish, especiall'y the Portuguese Man-of-war. It is immune to their poison, while also able to expel its own toxic purple venom which paralyzes its prey. Meanwhile, they provide a snack for birds, turtles and others.
Masses of them sometimes get washed ashore after a storm at sea, hence the ones on the beach I saw and hence their other name: purple storm snails. I read that if you do find them, throw them back into the water and they might live on. At one point i had a handful of them and my hand was stained dark purple from their dye, but it hurt me not.
They are found around the world in tropical and temperate seas.
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Re: Purple Sea Snails
Posted by Martha Meredith on January 30, 2021, 7:52 pm, in reply to "Purple Sea Snails"
Thank you so much for the information! I was so intrigued yesterday when I kept encountering those purple sea snails as I was walking on the beach.. and the foam too.....