The Black Turban Snail

Remember the snail that we found on land? This creature is in the same family, but
it survives in the salty water of the tide pool. The Black Turban Snail crawls around in search of algae, tiny little plants which grow on the rocks. It will also eat seaweed, called kelp, and diatoms, which are microscopic algae. They have a couple of ways to escape predators. They can “smell” the odor of a predator and then scoot off in the opposite direction. What else helps the snail survive? The shell, of course. The snail can retract into its extremely hard shell. This shell is different than a land snail’s, which is quite fragile. But, like the land snail, these guys are edible. Not only do humans find them tasty, but so do sea otters. Starfish on the sea floor will eat the snails in the winter as the snails fall off of the kelp during rough storms and sink to the bottom. Black Turban Snails grow to be about the size of a quarter. They live quite long for something of this size. Would you believe this snail might be 25 years old?!

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