Have you ever noticed these perfectly round holes in seashells?
They’re a common sight along Australia’s beaches, but what’s not common is finding someone who knows why they are there!
It turns out they are caused by these guys – whelks.
While many gastropods (snails and slugs) are herbivorous, whelks belong to the family Busyconidae, a carnivorous group of predatory sea snails.
Whelks feed on molluscs, protected by a hard shell. To get to the tasty morsel inside, whelks have evolved to use their radula (an organ like a tongue) as, essentially, a drill.
First they spit some of their own stomach acid out onto the shellto soften it, before using their radula in a back and forth rhythmic motion to bore a hole.
Then, more stomach acid is inserted through the hole to kill the animal inside.
The radula then becomes the whelk’s eating utensil, using it like a straw to slurp out the mollusc.