This is a picture from the beach on Sanibel Island, Florida. There was a very low tide that exposed a sandbar so that it was completely dry. On the sandbar, you could see Olive shells (probably oliva sayana, or lettered olives) alive and moving around. Moving around fairly quickly for something that’s cousin to a snail. Apparently, they’re one of the fastest burrowers among the snails. As they moved, they made little patterns in the sand which you see here, along with the Olive’s themselves, and their little siphons, which they would stick up into the air as if to say, “Hey, what’s going on here?” I’ve been going to Sanibel for 24 years and have never seen Olive’s moving around like this, which just goes to show you that Mother Nature always has something up her sleeve.
Happy Saturday!
Ha, how sweet. They really look like they're on the move!
Wow, and I was thinking that was your writing on the sand. Only upon reading the caption, I did a double take. =) Do check out my snapshot too, I've got beach front shot as well.
Interesting shot. I don't think I've ever seen snails moving around like that. It looks like they are writing something in the sand.
I love this. Kind of looks like they are writing a secret message. I had to make it larger to see the actual culprits! LOL
That is so interesting!
Wouldn't it be mind-blowing if these little creatures wrote out a message in the sand in front of you? Interesting photo.
That's pretty darn cool!
I've never heard of Olive shells before, but this is a neat picture!
This photo makes me think of the Edmund Spenser sonnet (about writing his beloved's name in the sand) — one of the Amoretti. A fanciful thought: Olivetti – a sea creature's sonnet…
I am learning a lot about nature today. First the Larakeets and now these snails. I would love to see a picture a few hours later to see how much they had “written.”
To me, it looks like the last remnants of the word “Love” that someone scraped into the sand for their beloved to read.