A volunteer from The Rock Pool Project in Falmouth, England, stumbled upon a rather unusual sight while flipping rocks at the end of the day. Saying that she saw something extremely bright and unusual under a large rock covered with seaweed, Vicky Barlow later took a video and several photos of a rare rainbow sea snail. These recordings are only the fourth time the live has been recorded in the UK.
The sea snail called “Babakina anadoni” is a member of the aeolid nudibranch family. These creatures are known for their bright colors and unusual shapes. They are mostly found in warm marine waters and were first spotted off the coasts of Portugal, Spain, and France. However, warming sea waters caused them to appear in the UK, where they were first seen in August 2022.
Barlow and The Rock Pool Project say these tiny but rare rainbow sea snails have been spotted by divers and snorkelers several times since they were first spotted.
“What you can find on our rocky shores is absolutely amazing,” Barlow said in a blog post describing the discovery.
Seeing this rare rainbow sea snail is not only exciting for rock poolers. There is also no previous record of this species in the National Biodiversity Network, as Barlow points out. Therefore, this video may be the first recording on the network.
These are not the only creatures whose lives and habitats have changed with the warming of sea waters. Some reports say that warming oceans around the world are also putting dolphins on the brink of extinction.
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