Rare violet sea snails, Janthina, have appeared on La Jolla Shores, the first time in ten years they appear on the San Diego coast.
(FOX 5/KUSI) — Anya Stajner, a 5th-year Ph. D. candidate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is no stranger to sea creatures, but during a walk in late June along La Jolla Shores, she spotted something unusual.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, no way.’ I had never seen one in person,” Stajner said.
“I thought what? And I looked a little bit closer and it was actually one of those violet sea snails, which I recognized from my studies,” said Stajner.
These bright purple creatures, called Janthina, float on the surface of the sea using a mucus bubble raft.
They’re rarely seen here and usually stay in tropical or subtropical waters.
“They’re darker on the top so that a sea bird flying above that might want to eat the Janthina couldn’t see it and they’re like a lighter purple below so that a fish looking up from below might have a harder time spotting,” said Stajner.
The unassuming purple snails feed off marine life and are vicious predators of vallella vallella and the Portuguese man o’ war, but harmless to humans, according to Stajner.
Most beachgoers have seen pictures of the elusive sea creatures, but haven’t seen them in person.
“I’ve heard of them…I’ve seen them either on the news or social media. It is cool, but it also makes me wonder why they’re showing up,” said La Jolla resident Brooks Whitney.
La Jolla Shores tour guide, Robbie de Pau, says he saw the sea snails in San Diego circulating on social media, but wasn’t sure he believed it.
“…a bit of a hoax, yeah, I didn’t…because I’ve never seen them before. I’ve been working on this beach for about two years and never seen anything that color purple,” said de Pau.
“…but no, they’re real,” said Stajner.
Though they’re usually found in tropical or sub-tropical waters, Stajner says she thinks they’re washing up on La Jolla Shores due to a patch of warmer water offshore that’s made its way into the cove. These violet sea snails haven’t been spotted on San Diego beaches since 2015.
“…Which is when we had both an El Niño event and a warm blob of water that sort of combined and it was this massive marine heat wave,” said Stajner.
However, you’re unlikely to catch a glimpse of these rare snails on California beaches again anytime soon.
“…The waters are back to their cool California current waters that are actually coming down from the north, so it would be unlikely to find them,” said Stajner.
If you do spot one, researchers at Scripps want to know. They ask beachgoers to snap a photo, but leave the snails at the shore, since La Jolla Shores is a marine protected area.
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