Monday 10 August 2015

Creature 314: Cancellaria cooperii

Blood sucking snail

Cancellaria cooperii is a marine snail which is commonly called the torpedo snail or Cooper's nutmeg snail.

This marine snail has acquired the taste for blood, although they only really feed off torpedo ray blood, so you are safe.  They can smell torpedo rays from up to 24 meters away and when the torpedo ray cones in contact with the sea floor these little snails attach on. They drill into thei host with their razor sharp teeth and suck away.



Distribution:
The torpedo snail can be found in the East Pacific.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Caenogastropoda
Family Cancellaridae
Genus: Cancellaria
Species: Cancellaria cooperii

Image Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancellaria_cooperii
http://www.metridium.com/monterey/other/nutmeg.html

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