Northwest Dive Club

Middle of this January I stumbled across a HUGE mass of what looked to be Hairy Tritons or some other kind of snail. Once more, finding something I've never seen before!

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They looked to be either mating or laying eggs or going after someone else's eggs or all of the above. Looking closer I saw what appeared to be eggs.

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There were easily 100 snails in the melee!

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Haven't seen this before or since...

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Again, sure looks like mating and egg laying to me, but the last time I assumed that, I was mistaken! http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?t=1501 I suppose they could all be feeding on eggs that something else has laid.... Anybody know more about this?

Yes they are laying eggs. These pics are from Keystone, but you can see all the eggs, they sure can lay lots! About this time of year as I recall.

Wow! Nice pics!

In your pics you can see the eggs... lots more eggs than snails. In mine there are more snails than eggs. Perhaps they were earlier in the process when I took mine?

Also, your first pic looks like mine in terms of species, and the eggs are a bit more random. Your second pic the snail looks a bit different? more growth on them? and the eggs are more in a whorl pattern...

I'm not sure when the "season of love" is for marine snails.

The first are dogwinkles the second are hairy tritons. I can't tell what species is in your pics. The shells look too bumpy for dogwinkles and don't have any hair either. Gotta hit the books tonight.

Anyway, both my pics are from the same dive as I recall. Since you're seeing what seems like the start of egg laying, seems like they might be just starting the dating game.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for more eggs.

Richard

I saw tons of dogwhinkles on the rocks at low tide the other day with my daughter, and found large egg masses that look the same (random, not the whorls, and on stalks like that) I found pictures similar in Pacific Life of the Northwest.
gomi_

Yeah I need to open up Andy Lamb's book... I know my questions will be answered there... ](*,)