Flamingo tongue snail (Cyphoma gibbosum) feeding on coral. This sea snail feeds by sucking the coral polyps out of their holes. The pattern on its she

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Flamingo tongue snail (Cyphoma gibbosum) feeding on coral. This sea snail feeds by sucking the coral polyps out of their holes. The pattern on its shell is not actually on its shell, which is a dull beige. Instead the coloured part is the snail's fleshy mantle, which it extrudes and wraps around its shell. The flamingo tongue can reach around three centimetres in length. Photographed off Bonaire island, Antilles, West Indies.

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Size: 5137px × 3425px
Photo credit: © CLAY COLEMAN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1, america, animal, antilles, biological, biology, bonaire, caribbean, coral, cyphoma, eating, fan, fauna, feeding, flamingo, gastropod, gibbosum, indies, invertebrate, invertebrates, marine, mollusc, molluscs, mollusk, mollusks, nature, north, reef, sea, shell, single, snail, tongue, tropical, underwater, water, west, wildlife, zoological, zoology