Beautiful Bubbles
Two female bubble-rafting violet snails, Janthina exigua. This is the most common species of bubble-rafting snail.
Violet Rafting Snail
Janthina janthina, a bubble-rafting violet snail. The snail excretes mucus from its foot and uses the raft of bubbles to float from place to place.
Bubble-Rafting Snail On Shore
This violet bubble-rafting snail washed up on Maui, Hawaii.
Brown Bubble-Rafting Snail
A rare bubble-rafting brown janthina snail, Recluzia cf. jehennei. These snails live their lives upside-down, floating on a raft of mucus bubbles. Researchers believe the bubble rafts evolved from floating egg masses.
Ram's Horn Snails
Two ram's horn snails, Planorbella trivolvis, hang out on underwater vegetation. The snails carry parasitic nematodes that infect catfish.
Pearly Shell
The Oregon megomphix has a translucent shell and equally pearly body. This snail lives in the mixed forests of Washington and Oregon.
Monster Snails
The east African land snail is one of the largest snail species on Earth. These African snails are a threat to agriculture and a potential invasive species in the United States. They're sometimes illegally kept as pets.
Snail Eggs
It's a girl! (And a boy, actually, since snails are hermaphrodites with both male and female reproductive systems.) These pink pearls are apple snail eggs found in Florida's Everglades National Park.
Sea Snails
Wentletrap snails feed on coral and anemones at the bottom of the sea. These mollusks carry their eggs with them, seen here as yellow masses.
Janthina Snail
A janthina snail with its mucus-bubble raft washed up onshore in Barbados.
