Can you guess who laid them?
Published on Jan 25, 2025 at 2:40 PM
If you were walking on the beach and saw these strange-looking objects at your feet, what would you think they were? Rubber gaskets? Toilet plungers?
Many well-meaning people who come across these unnatural-looking gray objects may be tempted to throw them out. But they’re actually not trash at all — they’re moon snail egg casings, and they play an important role in ocean ecosystems.
Moon snails are large, sea-dwelling mollusks found all over the world. During the day, they stay buried underneath the sand, and at night, they emerge to hunt.
Every spring and summer, female moon snails lay thousands of eggs. Rather than attaching their eggs to rocks or plants like other snail species do, moon snails have developed a special method for keeping their eggs protected.
When it comes time for the snails to lay their eggs, they burrow their bodies under the sand and release their eggs along with a thick mucus. The mucus binds to the sand on either side of the eggs, forming a protective layer around the fertilized embryos.
“It’s essentially a sand-egg sandwich,” nature educator Rachael Tancock said in a TikTok.
Once the moon snail is done laying her eggs, what’s left behind is a structure known as a sand collar, named after its resemblance to an old-fashioned removable collar.
Safe inside their sand casings, the moon snail eggs grow and develop over several weeks. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae emerge into the water and the sand collar disintegrates.
A common misconception is that the sand collars are what’s left behind after the eggs hatch. But if the collar is still intact, the eggs are still inside.
Next time you come across something at the beach that looks suspiciously similar to a plunger, leave it be — there are growing baby snails inside.
“Make sure to keep them at the beach so more moon snails can grow,” Tancock said.
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