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Euspira lewisii (Lewis's moon snail)
Copyright ©
2005 Mary Jo Adams
With
a diameter of 5 ½ inches, the moonsnail is very distinctive.
You'll find it on sandy beaches, plowing half-buried through the
sand as it searches for clams, its favorite prey. When the fleshy
mantle is extended, it nearly covers the snail's shell. Watch for
clamshells with a countersunk-looking drill hole in them, a sign
that the clam was a moonsnail victim.
Also
watch for the moonsnail's distinctive sand collar egg case. The
eggs are actually sandwiched between two plies composed of sand
and mucus.
This
species was previously known as Polineces lewisii.
This page was created by Mary Jo Adams on 11/19/05.
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