Plougshare Snail: Stingy Lunch

Plougshare Snail: Stingy Lunch

I came across two ploughshare snails feeding on a Blue Bottle while walking on the beach at Stilbaai, a small town situated in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

These snails are scavengers and can smell decaying food from afar. These snails are found on the West, South and East coast of South Africa. You will find them on sandy beaches and they are quite common. When the tide comes in they come out of the sand and use the waves to "surf" up onto the beach in search of food. They use their proboscis to suck up soft tissue from their prey. They particularly feed on stranded and dead jelly fish and blue bottles. On the two photos below you can clearly see the proboscis being used to suck up the food.

The video below shows the snail feeding, which you can see is quite hectic.

You can read more about the Ploughshare snail by clicking on the link.

I took the photos and video during my resent vacation at Jongensfontein, Western Province, South Africa by using my iPhone.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.