November 30, 2004
Clione limacina (Sea Slug)
yahoo news
Clione or 'sea angels' swim in a Tokyo aquarium The Clione, which lives mostly in temperate waters, can be found in the Okhotsk Sea, off the northeastern part of Hokkaido in Japan. @
When Limacina (max size 5cm.) makes contact with its prey it rapidly everts a set of six buccal cones, which are in fact eversible tentacles, which grab the shell of Spiratella and turn it around until its shell opening is facing the mouth of Limacina. At this stage large chitinous hooks are everted from a pair of sacs, called hook sacs, and grasp the prey animal. It takes about 30 minutes for Limacina to pull Spiratella out of its shell and to swallow it whole. more info/pix
via the sea-slug forum
~Sea Angel/Sea Slug is that like 'Madonna/Whore'?
This is an example of one of my favorite things about biology: accidentally humorous, often contradictory names.
Angels are everywhere these days. They're even in America....so light, so diaphanous...
This animal's feeding behavior is an added bonus.