Flamingo Tongue Snail

Wow. Not gonna lie. It was difficult to figure out what to do for my first post, but then I figured it really didn't matter. BUT I decided that I wanted it to be something pretty to get your attention, so I chose the Flamingo Tongue Snail.  I know what you may be thinking, "when did a snail qualify as being pretty?". I don't really feel like I need to explain it to you. I mean, just look at those colors! Wowza!

Isn't it beautiful?!

Anyway, this bad mamma jamma lives in the Caribbean and in the western Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina down to northern Brazil.

They are only about an inch long. They live mainly on fan coral, and actually feed on the toxic coral. And not only do they suffer no harm, it actually incorporates the fans' venom and becomes toxic itself. Whaaaaaat?! Shut yo mouth! Good news though, with time, the coral that has been fed on will regenerate because it only eats through to the coral skeleton. They are pretty smart creatures when it comes to feeding. They are smart enough to know not to graze their host coral to death; instead, they transfer host periodically by crossing over to the next coral.

You see those wonderful yellow and black markings? Those colors are not part of the shell, but it is actually live mantle tissue which is covering the shell. Divers are often attracted to these colorful creatures and will take them as souvenirs, but will be disappointed because the shell itself is an apricot color- it is the snail living inside the shell that produces those amazing patterns. When the snail dies, the color goes with it. Sadly, these little creatures are over-collected and are becoming less common in highly visited coral reefs. So if you ever see one please leave it be!