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| shelled snails text index | photo index |
| Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda > Family Naticidae |
| Sand
collars of moon snails Family Naticidae updated Aug 10
Where seen? These frilly edged flat spirals are often seen on our sandy shores. What is a sand collar? The sand collar is the egg mass of a moon snail. A moon snail lays her eggs at night, combining these with mucus and sand in a gelatinous sheet which hardens. She lies at the center of the collar as she creates it, so the hole in centre of the collar gives an indication of the size of the mother snail. Some sand collars can be surprisingly large! They are usually the same colour and texture as the surrounding sand. It's alive! Although the collar feels hard, plasticky and appears dead, each collar can contain thousands of living eggs. When the eggs hatch, the collar disintegrates. Thus, an intact collar has living snails in it! Please don't damage the sand collars. |
 Pulau Sekudu, Jul 03  Chek Jawa, Nov 04 |
Although
it feels plasticky and dead, the sand collar is full of
living baby snails!Sand collars on Singapore shores
 Tuas, Apr 05 |
 Kusu Island, Apr 05 |
 Beting Bronok, Aug 05 |
 Lazarus Island, Jun 02 |
 East Coast Park, Jun 06 |
 Pulau Sekudu, Jul 08 |
 Pasir Ris, Dec 08 |
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