A NIP IN THE BUD

The wentletrap snail goes to great lengths to eat. To reach food it can stretch its feeding tube three times the length of its shell. Here it nibbles on a sea creature, a green anemone (uh-NEM-uh-NEE). The tips of the anemone’s feelers hold poison. The snail releases fluid that numbs the tips as the snail eats. Later, the anemone regrows its missing parts. This kind of wentletrap snail lives in shallow waters along the west coast of North America.