The World of XPILAR - B&W PHOTOGRAPHY AND ART CONTEST WEEK #101 ~ Sea Snail Barrel

This is just one house of a large snail called bačvaš, translated into English it would be called a barrel ( lat. Tonna galea ), he got this name because his house is barrel-shaped.
Lives at depths of 10 to 150 meters on the muddy and sandy bottom of the Adriatic Sea.

It can grow up to 30 cm, so the barrel is one of the largest snails in the Adriatic.
Another interesting thing is related to its diet, this snail is a carnivore and feeds on thorns, mollusks, crabs and the like.
It is amazing to many how such an animal can be a predator, but snails have adapted depending on where there is food. He likes to eat sea cucumbers the most, but they also have their own defense mechanism, so sometimes he can't eat them.
But in order to catch or eat some of them, the snail uses its sulfuric acid secreted by the salivary glands, which can be concentrated in a strength of 2% to 5%.
It serves to dissolve the shell of its prey and thus allows it to feed.
The snail will release the same acid when it is in danger and when it is in the immediate vicinity of predators.

The snail has a white body covered with black spots, and the outer lip with which it moves is very wavy and wide, brown or black at the edges.

One of the rare characteristics that the barrel snail has, and it is very rare among gastropods, ie snails, is its possibility of luminescence. The snail glows greenish when moving through water with its feet fully extended.

It is widespread in the Indo-Pacific, the Eastern Atlantic and the entire Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea.

         ... thank you ...