Meet the distinctive' moon snail lurking along the California coast

"They have a very thick round shell. They are distinctive and look like a full moon. The rest of the animal is fleshyhas a huge muscular foot and can propel itself to glide along the sea floor. While hunting on the seafloor, she added, It has a special structure on the front that acts like a snow plow. But the moon snail is a sand plow, so you'll see it push sand out of the way and sniff out chemical cues from their food."

"While not harmful to humans, Seid said the moon snail is a predator that uses slow and methodical processes to consume clams and other snails. They eat their prey very slowly and very creatively, Seid said. Moon snails have a tongue that is raspy like a cat tongue. They don't have fangs or anything scary, but it is a slow way to drill a hole into another shelled creature. They are very patient."

Moon snails in La Jolla have thick, round shells resembling a full moon and egg cases that look like broken pottery on the seafloor. Individuals can reach grapefruit size and possess a large muscular foot that enables smooth gliding along the seabed. A front structure acts like a sand plow, pushing sand aside while the snail detects chemical cues to locate clams and other snails. Moon snails use a raspy, cat-like tongue to slowly drill holes and extract prey; they are not harmful to humans. They bury in sand to hide, exposing only tentacles with black tips to sense predators, and can fully retract into their shells.

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