Moon Snail ‘live’ at Altona Beach

Nope… it’s not the latest indy music hip-hop crew strutting their stuff on the summer stage. Shells of Polinices sordidus aka Moon or Sand Snail and their sausage-shaped egg masses, have been commonly recorded in Baykeeper shoreline surveys around the Bay. But this  Polinices at Altona beach, is the first live one found so far.

These carnivorous critters  spend much of their time just below the surface of the seabed; and drill holes through  shells of other molluscs to eat them.  This one was keen to disappear into the safety of the sand, using its ‘stomach foot’ to dig itself in.