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Cyphoma gibbosum
Photo take at -40 ft on a Caribbean reef this beautiful snail moves on top of a purple sea fan. It is about 3 cm long and can be observed atached to gorgonians upon which it exclusively feeds. Unlike nudibranchs, flamingo tongue snails have a shell; however, the shell is typically not visible in living animals due to the mantle flesh covering it. When alive, the snail appears yellow-orange with irregular shaped spots ringed in black. However, the mantle can be retracted, exposing the shell. This snail is extremely over-collected and must be protected.
Found on coral reef from Florida all the Caribbean sea to Brazil
Spotted on May 25, 2012
Submitted on May 25, 2012
7 Comments
Thanks Gama i will and Blogie
So great dear, if you have another pics of it please link me to them.
It's lovely! I wonder if we have them here in the Philippines...
Que onda Luis como estas que buena sorpresa
Welcome to Project Noah Luis
Amazing creature and an excelent picture
Thanks Leuba at least inside Marine National Parks areas they are protected but still always the bad guys.
lovely patterns ! - I hope they do something about protecting it. Thanks for sharing the photo and information.