Violet sea snail, Janthina janthina, is a holoplanktonic sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk of the family Epitoniidae, found drifting at the surface of warm oceans worldwide. It builds a raft of mucus-coated bubbles to keep its thin, delicate violet shell afloat, since it cannot swim, and it feeds on cnidarians such as the by-the-wind sailor that drift alongside it at the surface. It is also known by the common names common violet snail, large violet snail and purple storm snail.
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) Living or Extinct Scientific Name Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Janthina janthina
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Global Biodiversity Information Facility: GBIF species distributions: Violet Sea SnailDistributionsQuote, Distributions
"locality": "Madagascar", "status": "PRESENT", "source": "World Register of Marine Species"
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Global Biodiversity Information Facility: GBIF species distributions: Violet Sea SnailDistributionsQuote, Distributions
"locality": "Mexico", "status": "PRESENT", "source": "World Register of Marine Species"
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Global Biodiversity Information Facility: GBIF species distributions: Violet Sea SnailDistributionsQuote, Distributions
"locality": "North America", "status": "PRESENT", "source": "Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)"
Sources
1. World Register of Marine Species: WoRMS: Janthina janthina
World Register of Marine SpeciesEnvironment flagsQuote, Environment flags
"isMarine": 1, "isBrackish": 0, "isFreshwater": 0, "isTerrestrial": 0
2. Janthina janthina (Wikipedia)
LeadQuote, Lead
Janthina janthina is a species of holoplanktonic sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Epitoniidae.
3. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy: Janthina janthina
GBIF Backbone TaxonomyTaxon recordQuote, Taxon record
"canonicalName": "Janthina janthina"
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