Gold stripes and gold flecks

  

Beautiful gold-flecked hermit crab in a Three-colored Top Snail (Calliostoma tricolor) shell.  Photographed on 28 January 2025.

Tricolored!

  

We were out in the field briefly this past weekend and I encountered two different hermit crabs in these beautiful snail shells — Three-colored Top Snail (Calliostoma tricolor).  

The snail is generally a more southern species, with most range descriptions describing their distribution from Santa Cruz south to Baja California, Mexico.  Looking online, however, there are quite a few records north of Santa Cruz to at least Bolinas, and one outlier up in Mendocino County (Thanks, Michael!).  So for the record, here's an observation from Sonoma County on 26 January 2024.

Spiralling in

 

Channeled Top Snail (Calliostoma canaliculatum), photographed along the Bodega Bay shoreline on 23 November 2015.

Here's a view from the side as the snail was crawling.  The tentacles and a small dark eye are visible on the right side.  You can also see the foot — speckled, with a fuzzy-looking texture.  And if you look closely, there's a partial view of the operculum ("trap door") — golden and circular (although only half is in view below the back edge of the shell).

 

Here's one more view — from below, when the snail was trying to right itself.

 

What a pretty foot!  And a beautiful snail.  I love the iridescence along the spirals.