Once again, I am awed by nature. This morning walking on the beach I saw this lovely little purple snail shell; during my walk I found about six more of them. They seemed to be blowing bubbles?! I did try to remove/pop bubbles on one, but it was clearly attached to the dear slug inside the shell, so I left it alone, except for placing it at the edge of the tide. Turns out that these Common Purple Snails live on Men of War as predators. However, when a situation arises where they detach from the Men of War then it automatically secretes a foamy pillow as a floatation device. Wow! So simple and so effective! I am humbled and impressed.

See one of my favorite reference books: Florida’s Living Beaches by Witherington, for more information.

I feel like a witnessed a design miracle today; simple and effective. And we think we’re so smart! Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg

Common Purple Snail with UNCOMMON talents. Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg