Flamingo Tongue Snail

The Flamingo Tongue is on the top of the ocean reef.

Have you ever seen a white shell with yellow spots precariously attached to a sea rod or sea fan? That’s a Flamingo Tongue snail ! Although their shells appear beautifully patterned with colorful spots, these spots are only visible while the snail is alive. A Flamingo Tongue’s shell is actually white. The vibrant spots come from the snail’s mantle which is extended over the shell. Oceana.org have stated that “these gastropods are seen almost exclusively on the animals they use as food, including sea fans, sea whips, and other gorgonians, although they occasionally cross open sand in search of new habitat. Only ¾ to 1 inch in size, these little snails feed on the polyps of sea rods as well as other gorgonians (soft corals).

 As gastropods, aka stomach-footed snails, Flamingo Tongues use their foot to eat! Cyphoma gibbosum lives sub-tidally on shallow reefs in the Caribbean and southern Atlantic Ocean - Thecephalopodpage.org

References :

• Ocena. (n.d.). Oceana | Protecting the World's Oceans. Flamingo Tongue. Retrieved August 18, 2014, from http://oceana.org/en/explore/marine-wildlife/flamingo-tongue

• Nahabedian, S., Wood, J. B., & Parr, M. (n.d.). Flamingo Tongue Snail (Cyphoma gibbosum). Flamingo Tongue Snail (Cyphoma gibbosum). Retrieved August 18, 2014, from http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/MarineInvertebrateZoology/Cyphomagibbosum1.html