08.05.2025 – Violet

Today, although a tiny bit wavy was a great day to go out at sea. On all of the trips we saw Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) but this blog post I want to put into the spotlight another small, but beautiful organism. It is the Bubble raft snail (Janthina janthina). This small organism floats at the surface using its self-made raft made out of air bubbles. It needs this raft, as by themself these snails as adults are unable to swim. Bubble raft snail want to be at the surface, because there they find one of their main preys, the so called Portuguese man-o-war (Physalia physalis). This highly venomous hydrozoan, uses its air-filled bladder to float at the surface and sail the seven seas, only needing to be careful from some of its predators like the already mentioned snail. Another fun fact of the snail is, that it secretes a violet coloured liquid from which also its name the Violet snail derives.

So although we go out to see cetaceans, we should also keep an eye out for the little treasures of the ocean.

By Horst Schulte

Sightings of the day

Stenella

09:30 Bottlenose dolphin, Portuguese man-o-war, Bubble raft snail, Cory’s shearwater, Bulwer’s petrel

13:30 Bottlenose dolphin, Portuguese man-o-war, Bubble raft snail, Cory’s shearwater, Bulwer’s petrel, Flying fish

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Bottlenose dolphin, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater

13:00 Bottlenose dolphin, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater