Western Striate Bubble

Shell size to 25 mm; shell barrel-shaped, smooth, thin, usually fragile. Spire completely sunken. Aperture larger than body whorl, wider on anterior part of shell. Color cream to light-brownish with darker irregular brown markings. Foot and mantle slightly translucent, yellowish to greenish with irregular white flecks. Cephalic shield posteriorly with broad, triangular, overlapping pallial lobes. Tentacles inrolled, siphon-like. Opaque-white patch surrounds each eye. Eyes lie on dorsal surface of cephalic shield. Animal totally envelops the shell but can retract completely into it. A burrower, living in sandy-mud substrate. Apparently feeds on mollusks. Egg masses are gelatinous with tiny greenish-yellow eggs. Photo of live snail taken by Ángel Valdés on Sanibel Causeway. Photo of egg mass taken by Linda Shockley near Marco Island.