A carnivorous and
cosmopolitan snail belonging to the
family Naticidae. The shell is easily recognizable by its round, smooth
spiraling shell with either a
calcareous or
horny operculum. The snails are sand dwellers and have no eyes and a large
foot that can cover the entire shell.
Moon snails mainly eat
mollusks including others of their species, but they prefer
bivalves. They use their
radular teeth to drill a clean
conical hole into the shell of their prey. This process can take from a few minutes to many hours. Once the hole in complete, the moon snail then suck out the soft tissues of its prey with a
proboscis.