Image of: Cephalaspidea
 
 ADW: 040.rjb1.jpg
 
 
 Caption
 Haminoea linda
 , South Pacific.  The shells of these and similar opisthobranchs are transparent and colorless.  The color and pattern seen here is on the mantle and is showing trough the clear, transparent shell.  When the animal dies, the shells often wash up on beaches and are hard to distinguish from the bubbles produced by waves splashing on the shore, hence the name "bubble shells."
 Contributors
 Dr. John B. Burch, Ph.D.
 (photographer, copyright holder), Mollusk Division, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan
   |