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| A small collection of egg cases. Each one holds about 20 to 100 eggs. Of these, only a dozen or two will mature into baby snails. |
These egg cases are new; as the eggs develop, they show up as slowly moving dots inside the translucent casings. One has already been broached by a predator, probably a crab looking for an omelet.
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| The same eggs, with their blurry mother, a whelk. (Species not identified.) |
The clear dot at the top of each egg case is a "cork" of gelatinous material. Over the incubation period, this gelatin dissolves, finally leaving an open passage for the baby snails' escape to the big world out here. (See A Snail's Odyssey; Whelks and relatives, for more info.)
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