By David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
Lots of shells collect near the jetty at the south end of Pass-A-Grille Beach.
Pass-A-Grille beach is a fairly good place to look for shells. One of the best places is down near the jetty at the south end of the island. Shells, seaweed, and all kinds of flotsam and jetsam pile up on the beach near the jetty, so its always a good place for shelling and beachcombing. (But that doesn’t mean you should not look elsewhere on the beach).
Moon Snail (Shark's eye) on Pass-A-Grille beach.
The Shark’s eye, also known as the moon snail, pictured above, is a carnivorous gastropod. It eats other shells, mostly clams. It does this by rasping a hole in their shells and injecting its digesting enzymes into the clam, then it sucking out the liquid meal. Shark’s eye snails are often found on the beach along with the discarded shells of their victims, like the sunray venus clam below that has fallen victim to a predatory gastropod.
This sunray venus clam has fallen victim to a predatory snail, probably a Shark's eye (moon snail). The circular hole in the shell is the telltale sign that a predatory gastropod has been at work.
