Mollusc · gastropod

Bone-eating snail

Rubyspira osteovora

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

About 2,900 m, in Monterey Canyon

Size

Shell 1 to 4 cm, up to nearly 6 cm

Diet

The bones of dead whales

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• It eats bones: pieces of bone are found in its stomach.
• Its name comes from “Ruby”, a whale carcass sunk to the bottom, and means “bone-eating spiral”.
• On the deepest carcass in Monterey Canyon, it is the most numerous animal after the zombie worm Osedax.
• It is thought to belong to a very ancient lineage, which appeared in the time of the dinosaurs.

And the sperm whale?

It lives on the skeletons of dead whales and feeds on them.

Verified sources

1. MBARI, bone-eating snails at Monterey Canyon whale falls
2. Aronson & Goffredi 2017, FEMS Microbiology Ecology (Occidental College)
3. MBARI Deep-Sea Guide, Rubyspira osteovora
4. Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum, bone-eating snails

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Methane ice wormSirsoe methanicola (formerly Hesiocaeca methanicola) Bamboo coralKeratoisis sp. (family Isididae, broadly defined) Bubblegum coralParagorgia arborea Carnivorous umbrella spongeCladorhiza kensmithi Scarlet king crabLithodes couesi Atlantic batfishDibranchus atlanticus