Slipper Snail Shells by the Seashore

 The Atlantic Slipper snail or Slipper limpet is abundant in both West and East Harbors.
Very often I see them growing attached to docks, a Horseshoe crab’s shell,

Lobster pots –even an old washed up bottle.

This snail species lives a very sedentary life cycle, staying put- literally.

  The Oldest, larger female animals form the base of a shell stack supporting multiple “pairs of slippers” assembling on top. I’ve read that larger male slipper snails will in fact “become” female should females die off- filling her slippers so to speak.

Rather than graze on sea algae, the slipper snail filters tiny marine organisms.

Just like the oyster, it is a filter feeder.

This can pose a threat to populating oysters by stacking up on (and against) them, competing for nutrient foods and starving them out.