Posted by seahunt on February 05, 2002 at 21:21:44:
In Reply to: Re: OK then, what was this??? posted by seldom seen slim on February 05, 2002 at 20:34:16:
Well, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a chiton, though I'd like to see one feeding as you say.
This was definately a snail, in the sand.
Something I didn't mention, s'posedly I should know something about it. I've asked about that thing since I was taking classes at Bodega Bay and ran into some Moon Snails... Only they are smaller and their mantle wraps over which keeps their shell clean. This was nothing like that. I talked to John Pearce about it as well as other highly qualified invertebrate researchers. No one had an opinion. Dare I say, I suspect that it was unidentified. I spent literally hundreds of hours UW in that area and only encountered it once.
I can give a clear description of it though... Near 5 inch black abalone on rock (flatish growth of shell over vertical growth of shell) with foot about one inch in sand. Foot did not spread out much wider than shell. Strong foot.
Still curious, seahunt