Flamingo Tongue Snail

Fascinating facts about the Flamingo Tongue Snail

• The spots are not camouflage — they are aposematic (warning) colouration, signalling to predators that the snail contains toxins.
• A single Flamingo Tongue Snail can kill an entire section of a gorgonian sea fan as it grazes. Heavy infestations can destroy large colonies.
• Their population has declined sharply in Florida and the Bahamas due to collection pressure and gorgonian coral loss from bleaching.

At a glance

About the Flamingo Tongue Snail

The Flamingo Tongue Snail is one of the most strikingly coloured creatures on Caribbean coral reefs. But the vivid orange, black-edged spots are not painted on the shell — they are the snail's mantle tissue, a living layer of cells draped over the outside of an otherwise plain white shell. When the snail dies, all colour vanishes.

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