Thursday, March 29, 2012

floating sea snail ~ 03/29/12 ~ Coast Guard Pier


posted 05/12/12 - It's thanks to Neil's (one who has many online profiles) comment on my previous salps post that I got a lead on the ID of this marine snail. Since it's such a different animal, I've moved it to its own post. And guess what? It eats salps. It was buffet day for this fantastic purple-lipped Carinaria. I had a good time looking for information on this little known animal. Make sure to check out the embedded links above in the ID for informative sites. Very cool. Thanks, Neil!

2 comments:

Neil said...

So cool that you saw these guys, must have been the same wind conditions that clogged Diablo. I remember seeing tons of Velella washed up on the beach sometimes in Spring, I wonder if it is not similar conditions that sweep all of those pelagic plankton onshore.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Again, many thanks, Neil, for leading me to the IDs of the salps and this floating sea snail. So, you think it's wind conditions that bring the plankton food for these animals near the shore? Back when I visited Asilomar more often, I would sometimes find by-the-wind sailors washed onto the beach; they're beautiful blue animals. I'll have to try to get a picture of them at some point.