Table of Contents
Main help menu
Close help
 
Bermudian "Lettered Olive" Snail
 
I'm fairly certain that the tiny black dots are it's eyes, which means that in the shot above, it's staring at you.
 
This was the smoothest, shiniest shell I think I ever saw...
 
It's "trunk" again in the above shots...
 
The sort of cloudiness of the flesh was incredible
 
And all four shots here show the squid-like shape of the front of this snail's body
 
You can actually see the tiny little tentacles unfurling in these three sequential shots above
 
It had a trunk. Like an elephant.
 
Back in it's natural habitat - although it was shy at this point

On one of our late August days out in Bermuda, a few of us wandered away from the boat to dig up sand dollars for fun. While digging around, I happened to come across what I first thought was just a pretty, shiny shell, but then I noticed it was still inhabited by this crazy little creature. The longer I looked at it, the more I noticed it looks more like a relative of a squid than of a snail. I've since been told that it's a "Lettered Olive", aka an "Oliva Sayana", a carnivorous snail that lives in the waters off the southeast coast of the U.S. I've really been wanting to share the pictures since it was such a unique little creature.

COMMENTS
Wildthing said at 3:54 a.m. on Sep 24, 2008:
Excellent closeups of a live Lettered Olive.
Grandbrother said at 11:57 a.m. on Sep 24, 2008:
Thanks for the i.d. - I was really hoping someone might know what it was.
Chilla said at 12:23 p.m. on Sep 24, 2008:
What an extraordinary creature. I didn't look at first because I am really not a fan of snails! This is however fascinating and has a very beautiful shell. You open up a whole new world with your wonderful macro photography.
Moabjeeper said at 3:21 p.m. on Sep 24, 2008:
Not a snail fan.
Loes said at 5:28 p.m. on Sep 30, 2008:
Wonderful macros!
Tishfish said at 11:43 a.m. on Oct 4, 2008:
WOW ! ! Spectacular ! ! !
Add a comment
Flag this tabblo as "may offend"