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Liittschwager_Cahow_chick_LookBDA_1k.jpg

Blog > 2024/25 Season

Violet Sea-snails and By-the-wind Sailors

April 8, 2018 LookBermuda
Janthina-janthina | Violet Sea-snail

Janthina-janthina | Violet Sea-snail

"Violet Sea-snails" or Janthina janthina have accompanied the record numbers of "By-the-wind sailors" or Velella velella washing ashore on Bermuda's beaches. Unusually warm waters and sustained winds has caused them to accumulate on the shorelines in quantities not seen in recent years. They have been accompanied by smaller quantities of "Portuguese man o' war"  Physalia physalis and the Violet Sea-snails which feed upon them (as seen above).

From Wikipedia:

Janthina janthina is a member of the family Janthinidae, snails that trap air bubbles with a layer of clear chitin to maintain their positions at the surface of the ocean where they are predatious on the hydrozoans. In addition to the bubble raft, only the veliger, or larval stage, has an operculum, and the shell is paper-thin to allow the animal to float upside down at the surface.

The snail's shell is reverse countershaded, because of its upside-down position in the water column. There is a light purple shade on the spire of the shell, and a darker purple on the ventral side. The animal has a large head on a very flexible neck. The eyes are small and are situated at the base of its tentacles.

The snail begins life as a male and later changes to the female of the species. The eggs are held by the female until they develop into a larval form.

The shell is almost smooth with a slightly depressed-globose shape. It is thin and delicate, and is without an operculum. The colour of the shell is violet, with a paler upper surface. The height of the species shell is up to 38 mm, the width to 40 mm.

← 2018 CahowCam chick officially named.Easter Cahow Colony Update →
Blog > 2024/25 Season
Fledging Watch for "Inna" the CahowCam 2 Chick. UPDATE > Fledged on June 13th
about 5 days ago
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