Thursday 29 March 2007

Fabulous furry snail

Lots of snails have hairy shells. No, really. We even have a few in Australia. But none of them is quite as spectacular as Alvinoconcha hessleri, a marine snail from hydrothermal vents in the western Pacific and central Indian Ocean. Deep Sea News has the goods on this magnificent mollusc, which can grow bigger than a softball. (Is that the same size as a cricket ball?)