some type of adult girl

realmonstrosities:

Wolf Snails are fearsome predators from the neotropics.

Next to their eye stalks and tentacles they have a kind of moustache known as oral lappets. These are extremely sensitive and provide the Wolf with a keen sense of taste so that they can follow the slimy trails left by other snails.

The Wolf Snail follows these trails until they catch up with their prey, before stabbing them with a radula and eating them.

Small prey are eaten whole, while larger ones are cut to pieces. The Wolf Snail has a long, slender body and proboscis which lets them delve deep into a shell to consume every last bit of flesh.

They are such proficient predators that they’ve driven hundreds of snail species to extinction, particularly when humans brought them to islands to deal with pests.

Despite all that, I still find them quite pretty and cute. They have moustaches!

Images: David A. Rodríguez Arias/Dylan Parker/Scot Nelson

(via typhlonectes)