Violet Bubble Raft Snail | Janthina janthina

This is a violet snail (Janthina janthina), also known as a bubble raft snail. These pelagic snails are found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters. They are considered pleuston, macroscopic organisms that live at the interface of air and water. To float at the ocean surface, these snails use thin secretions of chitin to envelope bubbles of air, thus creating a buoyancy support. They bob upside-down below the ocean surface and wait for prey such as Portuguese man-of-wars (Physalia physalis) and by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella). When they sense such prey, bubble raft snails extend their long cylindrical snouts and use a rasping mechanism to grab prey, as pictured here. These snails are protandrous sequential hermaphrodites, meaning they all commence life as males, then become female. This snail, with a shell of about three centimeters, was found washed ashore with a mass stranding of thousands of colonial siphonophores.

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Copyright: Copyright Tony Wu. All rights reserved. No duplication, reproduction or usage without prior written permission.
Image Size: 7274x4849 / 101.0MB; https://www.photoshelter.com/support/license#rm; https://www.tony-wu.com/contact-tony-wu; Violet Snail Animalia Mollusca Gastropoda Epitonioidea Janthinidae Janthina janthina Common Violet Snail Purple Bubble Raft Snail Purple Snail Violet Sea-Snail Mollusk Pleuston Atlantic Ocean South Africa
Contained in galleries: Marine Life | South Africa

This is a violet snail (Janthina janthina), also known as a bubble raft snail. These pelagic snails are found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters. They are considered pleuston, macroscopic organisms that live at the interface of air and water. To float at the ocean surface, these snails use thin secretions of chitin to envelope bubbles of air, thus creating a buoyancy support. They bob upside-down below the ocean surface and wait for prey such as Portuguese man-of-wars (Physalia physalis) and by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella). When they sense such prey, bubble raft snails extend their long cylindrical snouts and use a rasping mechanism to grab prey, as pictured here. These snails are protandrous sequential hermaphrodites, meaning they all commence life as males, then become female. This snail, with a shell of about three centimeters, was found washed ashore with a mass stranding of thousands of colonial siphonophores.