#mollusc

[arithetonberry]

Most of my marine bio art can be bought as prints from my store here!

I have had a series of emergencies in the last few months, and any amount really helps. I also take commissions on ko-fi

[night-the-starfish]

Look within, colored pencils on paper.

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

Regal Sea Goddess (they are very deserving of that name)

Have a wonderful day/night!! Make sure to hydrate and eat something today!! ^^

Thank you!! You as well!

Have you seen the regal sea goddess (Felimare picta)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onMar 3

[oarfjsh]

quick PSA to fishblr, snailblr, and anyone it may concern.

over the last year, more and more people on reddit have brought to my attention a new man made horror beyond my comprehension: the expansion of "acid dipping" to the neritid family of aquatic snails.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AquaticSnails/s/vPCUTXWyAq

this heinous practice has been applied to other pet snails for a longer while, but the reports of treated nerite snails are new, and steadily increasing.

as the name implies, these snails are submerged in an acidic solution and/or sanded down with tools to give them the "rare" or "novelty" white shell colour and then sold for higher prices.

not only is the process stressful and potentially lethal for the snail, the white colour is achieved by stripping the shell of its outermost layer called the periostracum.

https://aquariumbreeder.com/snails-external-anatomy/

the periostracum acts as a protection for the prismatic layer below it, which is more susceptible to erosion, giving the snail a lifelong impediment. THESE SNAILS CANNOT REPAIR OLD SHELL GROWTH. THE NEW SHELL GROWTH HOWEVER WILL APPEAR IN ITS NATURAL FORM AND COLOUR.

in this context it is important to note that all, or at least 99.99%, of nerite snails that are sold are wild caught animals as successful captive breeding is currently not possible at a meaningful scale. surviving transport and adjusting to captivity is already a major stressor to them without the nonsense of human aesthetic preferences.

so far i have seen one species in particular targeted by bleaching, Neritina pulligera (aka: military helmet nerite, steel helmet snail, dusky nerite, black/brown/olive racer nerite, algae snail or algae nerite). this species is naturally a shade between jet black, dark brown and olive green or light brown. in the pictures you can see areas of these colours where the shell was not stripped very thoroughly. they are sold under the name "beluga nerite" or "beluga snail", or as "white [common name]".

in the aquarium trade, naturally plain white nerite snails are extremely rare, if not unavailable - some species can have a whiteish/cream/light grey base colour with a distinct pattern in black, brown, pink, green, etc. on top of it. if in doubt, assume it is acid dipped, and do not support this trend.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AquaticSnails/s/jNDmUge7uj

for more info and discussion, visit the reddit links. sadly i cant seem to find all of the threads i grabbed pictures from anymore; i assume they have been deleted.

[dinoserious]

invertober 19, vampire squid. blehh

[santeri-panteri]

These are probably some of my favourite images of giant squid taken. I'm surprised I didn't know about them earlier even though they are from 2012

[crevicedwelling]

how do we feel about very small snails?

many land snails are very small, even some smaller than these, but they’re easy to miss even if you’re already accustomed to looking for tiny invertebrates.

these are different Vallonia species but I’ll need a different angle of the shell for a good ID. At ~2mm, both are full-sized adults; you can tell by the peristome (lip) at the aperture of the shell!

[niqvassieart]

some studies of creatures i met in the ocean last weekend.