Cute Snails Doing Cute Snail Things

Also spotted along the Shore Acres trails were many snails!  The rain must have brought them out.  I am wondering how a snail can find these beautiful shells to live in?! I have never found a shell like that in my life.  They must know where to look….

Sea angels are a part of the gastropod (sea slug) clade. Instead of having a sticky foot they have winglike appendages, and the entire shell is lost. The small, gelatinous creatures get to be about 5cm long on average. The larger, polar versions synthesize a defensive metabolite called pteroenone to ward off predators. Other creatures take advantage of this and bring sea angels with them to ward off other predators. Sea angels are hermaphroditic, fertilizing internally, and release egg masses to float in the open ocean until they hatch. The first three pictures are sea angels as they normally appear, the bottom two pictures are sea angels when feeding.