Animal
Abyssal comb jelly
This rosy red predator buzzes about the midwater on the prowl for other comb jellies.
On view at the Aquarium inRocky Shore
With its smooth, conical shell, a brown turban snail looks like a "foot" wearing a large hat. The shell, usually covered with red algae, is orange or bright brown. The "foot" has dark brown or black sides, with white or cream below. To reproduce, the separate sexes broadcast milky sperm and bright grass-green eggs into the sea, where fertilization occurs.
Up to 1 inch (25 mm)
Brown algae, bryozoans, diatoms
Cape Arago, Oregon to the Channel Islands
Top snails, limpets, abalone; Class: Gastropoda
Even though the brown turbans and the black turbans are the two common turban snails in the intertidal zone, they don't intermingle. The black turbans live in the high intertidal zone; the brown turbans live in the low intertidal or subtidal zones, mostly on the tops of the giant kelp canopy. The brown turbans slowly wander about the kelp fronds, rasping the film of diatoms on the kelp's surface with their filelike tongues.
At the present time, brown turban snails are abundant. However, as creatures of the kelp forest ecosystem, their future depends on the fate of the giant kelp forest. Contaminated runoff or sewage and sludge dumped into the ocean can harm the giant kelp forest and the creatures that depend on it for their home.
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This rosy red predator buzzes about the midwater on the prowl for other comb jellies.
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