Creature Feature Encyclopedia: Gastropoda

Violet Snail

Violet Snail
Janthina janthina


Size: 1-1 1/2" (2.5-3.8 cm)

Rather than crawl along the ground, the Violet Snail builds a floating "raft" of mucus-coated bubbles and drifts with wind and ocean currents. As it drifts, it hangs suspended from the raft, with its proboscis and forked feelers pointed toward the surface where food is found. The violetsnail eats two types of jellyfish: the Portuguese man-of-war, and the by-the-wind-sailor. Oddly, the violetsnail seems to be immune to the poisonous Portuguese man-of-war, and appears to mimic it by emitting streams of violet dye.

~A Swim through the Sea © 1994


Library
The Library

  • Encyclopedia
  • Planet Scout Glossary
  • Reading Lists
  • Planet Scout Links

  << Back to Clubhouse