The flamingo tongue snail (cyphoma gibbosumn) is a small, colorful sea snail which lives on various species of soft corals in the Caribbean.
This creature almost-literally wears its heart (soul and colors) on its sleeve. The pretty color you see in this image is not a snail's shell! Rather, it's in a layer of live mantle tissue, connected to its foot - the snail pushes it out to cover the shell. The mantle tissue also works like a fish's gill. When the snail is attacked, the mantle (and colors) is withdrawn. So you might say, this is the only marine animal that literally turns pale in fright.(Link | Photo)
This creature almost-literally wears its heart (soul and colors) on its sleeve. The pretty color you see in this image is not a snail's shell! Rather, it's in a layer of live mantle tissue, connected to its foot - the snail pushes it out to cover the shell. The mantle tissue also works like a fish's gill. When the snail is attacked, the mantle (and colors) is withdrawn. So you might say, this is the only marine animal that literally turns pale in fright.(Link | Photo)
