Flamingo Tongue Snail

By Kirsti Scott

Flamingo tongue snail, Key West, Florida (Kyle Lippenberger/Shutterstock.com).

While walking the beach in Puerto Rico, I picked up a smooth, white shell—an elongated oval with a thick ridge about halfway down the length of the shell. The underside had an opening kind of like a cowrie, gently folded in and running the length of the shell.

Flamingo tongue snail shell, Puerto Rico (Kirsti Scott). Flamingo tongue snail shell collection (Robin White).

I thought it was interesting because of the ridge, and knew I had seen one before, though I couldn’t remember its name. After searching online, I finally found the name of the animal it came from: a flamingo tongue snail.

Young Sound, Andros, Bahamas (Lucy Frost). Flamingo tongue snail (Wayne H/Shutterstock.com).

When I did a little more research on the animal, I found out that when it is alive, it’s way more interesting than its tiny, nondescript shell would suggest. A live flamingo tongue snail has a bright, colorful mantle that covers the entire shell. The mantle and a foot extend out of the folds on the base of the shell.

Fingerprint cyphoma with mantle retracted (Nick Hobgood). U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Robin White). U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Robin White).

The snail feeds on the soft corals on which it is usually found, and the colors of the mantle provide camouflage and protection for this tiny animal.

Flamingo tongue shell, Deerfield Beach, Florida (Ashley Berlinrut). Flamingo tongue snail, Jamaica (Ashley Berlinrut).

Originally thought to be three different species, the flamingo tongue snail (Cyphoma gibbosum), the fingerprint cyphoma (Cyphoma signatum), and Mcginty’s flamingo tongue (Cyphoma mcgintyi) are in fact members of the same species. Members of the family Ovulidae—sometimes called the false cowries—they are differentiated from each other only by the different color patterns on their mantles and slight differences in their shell shapes and colors. And no two are exactly alike.

Flamingo tongue snail shells, Curaçao (Gina Olkowski). U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Robin White). Flamingo tongue snail, St. Croix (Elizabeth Smith).

While these snails are relatively common on reefs in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, living anywhere from the surface to about 100 feet deep, it is easy to miss them when snorkeling or diving because they are small (only about one inch long), and their colorful mantles often blend into the sea fans, sea whips, and other gorgonians on which they feed. The female snails lay her sticky eggs on the coral, which hatch after 10 days. The larvae feed on plankton until they can attach themselves to the underside of coral branches with a long, narrow foot.

Flamingo tongue shells, Puerto Rico (Barbara Smith). Flamingo tongue snail, Bonaire (aquapix/Shutterstock.com).

Flamingo tongue snails use a radula to graze on soft corals, scraping off and dissolving soft tissues to eat. Like sea slugs, nudibranchs, and other reef organisms, they absorb chemicals from the soft corals they eat, which makes them toxic to creatures that might want to eat them. The colorful spots and stripes on the flamingo tongue snail’s mantle act as a warning to keep predators away. The mantle is only retracted when the snail is attacked, and otherwise it covers the shell, keeping it glossy and smooth. Larger fish and invertebrates are not deterred by the small amount of toxins and are the natural predators of the flamingo tongue snail.

Flamingo tongue snail, Florida Keys (Amanda Baker). Flamingo tongue snail, St. Croix (Elizabeth Smith).

Keep a look out for the little shells with a ridge cutting across it, and even better, look out for the spectacular colors and patterns on the mantle if you’re lucky enough to meet the flamingo tongue snail in its habitat.

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