Rare sea snail in Cornwall

Violet sea snail

From Wildlife Extra:

Rare sea creature and slimy surprise found in Cornwall

Violet sea snail spotted near Polzeath

July 201. A rare and beautiful sea snail has been found by a Cornwall Wildlife Trust volunteer in Polzeath, North Cornwall. This is the first sighting of such an unusual creature in over 3 years, according to the Environmental Records Centre of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Violet sea snail

A violet sea snail, which gets its name from its vivid colour, is an oceanic drifter with a mucus bubble raft which supports them on the ocean surface. They travel with their prey in tropical and semi tropical ocean drifts therefore arriving in Cornish waters must be quite a shock! Once in a while they wash up in this part of the world, often with other exciting drifters such as goose barnacles and the infamous Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish.

Marine scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, have witnessed a remarkable feeding frenzy of seabirds and dolphins off the Land’s End peninsula in southwest Cornwall: here.