Flamingo Tongue

[driftin' by]

Cool. I've been specifically looking for them on my last two trips to the Keys and no such luck.

Yeah... it's actually a sad situation for these guys because idiot divers and snorkelers are hurting the populations. Overly zealous people take them for their striking colors thinking the spots are on the shell when actually, the spots are on a membrane connected to their pod/foot and when molested it's retracted leaving a boring white shell and a dead snail.

 

[Larry C]

Nice shot.

 

[archman]

Yeah... it's actually a sad situation for these guys because idiot divers and snorkelers are hurting the populations. Overly zealous people take them for their striking colors thinking the spots are on the shell when actually, the spots are on a membrane connected to their pod/foot and when molested it's retracted leaving a boring white shell and a dead snail.

I had a student that did this. For over a week I thought she was just REALLY lucky at finding dead shells on the beach. Little did I know she was plucking live ones off the reef and stuffing them in her BCD.