#whelk

I used to assume he chose st marks because that’s when he sacrificed him but that isn’t canon - THIS is and it changes everything - it’s his best friend’s birthday and he can’t cope with the grief

While this may seem like an ordinary sea snail, dog whelks (Nucella lapillus) are a vicious predator in many rockpools, predating on other hard-shelled organisms like barnacles, mussels and other sea snails. Their feeding method is quite extreme: to get past the hard shell of their prey, dog whelks will 'drill' into the shell, leaking digestive enzymes onto the shell before using their radula to clear the shards. Once they've broken through, dog whelks will release stomach acid inside the hole, dissolving the soft organism within before eating it. This behaviour is often called drilling because of the signature hole left on eaten prey: