what ’ s that ?
moon snails
family: Naticidae
Some interesting facts about moon snails:
-Moon snails spend most of their time hidden beneath the sand in the ocean environments where they live.
- There are three main varieties of moon snail on the Atlantic coast: the Atlantic moon snail (Polinices duplicatus), the Milk moon snail (Polinices lacteus), and the Northern moon snail (Lunatia heros).
- Moon snails lay thousands of eggs at a time, and the eggs are carried atop the shell of the parent snail,
becoming covered in a protective layer of sand over time.
- Moon snails are voracious predators. They eat meals of other sea creatures many times a day.
- Moon snails eat other mollusks, using a special set of sharp teeth to drill though the shells of their prey.
- A moon snail’s teeth are called radula.
- Once the moon snail has drilled through the shell of the animal it plans to eat, it releases digestive enzymes which begin to break down the creature inside its shell, making it possible for the snail to suck it out
through the hole it has made.
- Finding evidence of moon snails on the beach is simple- even if you don’t see the snails themselves, you
are likely to find empty clam shells with holes drilled in them.
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
Use these photos for nature journals, lap books, or animal reports.
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
word scramble
Unscramble the words below to find hidden terms related to moon snails.
The words you are looking for are in the box at the bottom of the page.
lsnia
dnsa
coena
nrcaeroiv
draalu
dpoostrag
llesh
lriasp
llsukom
scrambled words
snail radula
molluskocean
sprialshell
carnivoregastropod
sand
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
word cloud
These words can be cut out and used for creating poetry, lap book projects,
nature journaling, or anything else you can imagine.
gastropod
mollusk
snail
ocean
sand
carnivore
shell
spiral
radula
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
my animal fact sheet
moon snails
what i know
what i ’ d like to find out
use this space for a photo or sketch of a moon snail
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013