Summary[
edit] Description: Crepidula fornicata (Linnaeus, 1758) - Atlantic slipper snail in Florida, USA. (December 2013) The gastropods (snails & slugs) are a group of molluscs that occupy marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Most gastropods have a calcareous external shell (the snails). Some lack a shell completely, or have reduced internal shells (the slugs & sea slugs & pteropods). Most members of the Gastropoda are marine. Most marine snails are herbivores (algae grazers) or predators/carnivores. The striped, blister-shaped object shown above is a Crepidula fornicata slipper snail. The surroundings include colonial tunicates, green algae, and stony corals. These organisms are encrusting a large Atrina pen shell that was beached on a marine shoreline in Florida. Slipper snails are unusual in that they are non-fixed encrusters and lack a strongly coiled shell. Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Calyptraeidae Locality: Fishing Pier beach, northern shoreline of the eastern end of Sanibel Island, southwestern Florida, USA More info. at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_slipper_shell. Date: 14 December 2013, 16:49. Source:
Crepidula fornicata (Atlantic slipper snail) (Sanibel Island, Florida, USA). Author:
James St. John.