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research worker have discovered a Modern specie of bright - white-livered " margarita " escargot hiding in unornamented sight on acoral reefin the Florida Keys . The tiny invertebrate , which lacks a traditionalsnailshell , can shoot out toxic mucus web .
The newfound species , namedCayo margaritaas an homage to the late Jimmy Buffett , was unwrap on Florida ’s Coral Reef , the only barrier Rand system in the United States . The vibrant chromaticity of the escargot and its close propinquity to the Florida coastline inspired investigator to name the escargot after " Margaritaville , " the song by Buffett , who died on Sept. 1 .
The new species of margarita snail (Cayo margarita)was discovered in the coral reef of the Florida Keys.
The genus , Cayo , translates to " low island " and distinguish how the snails ' orbitual bodies appear on the reef .
C. margaritagrows to around 0.4 inches ( 1 centimeter ) and uses its toxic mucus webs to take hold of plankton , alga and dust . These escargot spend their intact spirit drop anchor to the same smirch of the reef and rely on ocean currents to waft intellectual nourishment past their mucus World Wide Web .
The researchers described the newfound snail specie in a study put out Oct. 9 in the journalPeerJ , along with a closely related fluxing lime - green snail , namedCayo galbinus , that was recently discovered by the same researchers on coral reef in Belize .
A tiny margarita snail sitting in the middle of a dead section of coral.
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The two mintage belong to to the family Vermetidae , also known as the worm snails , because they do not apply their shells to protect their indulgent consistence . Instead , their limited shell act as a tether that holds them to the reef .
" They are related to steady free - sustenance snails , but when the juveniles discover a worthy point to live , they hunker down , cement their shell to the substrate , and never move again , " study lead authorRüdiger Bieler , conservator of invertebrates at the Field Museum in Chicago , say in astatement . It is interesting to see two related to animals employ the same body part for something completely different , he added .
A newfound lime-green sea snailCayo galbinuswas also described by the researchers.
The new species are nearly related to the Spider - Man snail , Thylacodes vandyensis , whichwas discovered in the Florida Keys by Bieler and his team in 2017 . As its name paint a picture , T. vandyensisalso shoots out chemically enriched mucus WWW .
The researchers think the toxicCayosnails ' brilliant colors are a warning to other animals to " deter the neighbor from getting too close , " Bieler say . This would explain how they are capable to live out in the outdoors without any protective scale , he added .
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research worker initially thought the two newfound snails could be related sub - species that had altered their colors based on their placement . But this turned out not to be the case .
" Initially , when I hear the lime - dark-green one and the lemon - yellow one , I figured they were the same species , " Bieler articulate . " But when we sequence their DNA , they were very dissimilar . "
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C. margaritaandC. galbinuscould be some of the few marine creatures that may boom as a result ofclimate variety . The snails prefer for good anchor themselves to dead corals , which will become progressively common as sea temperatures rise and coral decolorise themselves . However , dead reefs could entail there is less nutrient available to them .
The discovery ofC. margaritais a reminder that there are lots of undescribed species hiding in plain mess .
They live in a frequently visited Rand , and even then " we had to face very tight " to see them , Bieler said . " It ’s another indication that in good order under our noses , we have undescribed coinage . "
