Port Phillip Baykeeper » predator http://www.bay-keeper.com Say g'day to the Bay Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:16:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 The one that got away! http://www.bay-keeper.com/2010/02/one-that-got-away/ http://www.bay-keeper.com/2010/02/one-that-got-away/#comments Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:22:55 +0000 BayKeeper http://www.bay-keeper.com/?p=1013 Your average bi-valve spends most of its life partially buried in the seabed, waiting to filter fine particles of food from water currents. A pretty low-key existence, but it’s a living. Whereas the predatory sand snail Polinices sordidus can go right over the top!  They climb onto other molluscs to rasp a perfectly neat hole in the shell with their tongue, aided by a shell-dissolving secretion. Perhaps the victim’s only chance is for the an even bigger predator to arrive on the scene?

one perfectly drilled bi-valve and one lucky escape

The two bi-valves and Sand Snail (aka Moon Snail) pictured here were found on Middle Park Beach. While the smaller bi-valve has been well and truly drilled. The larger shell has been attacked, but for some reason the snail quit before finishing the job. Every shell has a story to tell!

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