Dr. Jerry Harasewych, Curator of Marine Mollusca at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, uses a pipette to "milk," or extract a thick white liquid, from the slit-shell snail, Perotrochus amabilis.

Dr. Melany Puglisi, of the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce, collects the fluid in small jars which she and others at the Marine Station will analyze.

Eight specimens of slit-shell snails collected in the day's submersible dive await milking.

Video courtesy of Joe Bruncsak/Brooke et al., NOAA-OE, HBOI.


Related Links

Florida Coast Deep Corals 2005

Florida Coast Deep Corals - Nov 19 Log

NOAA Ocean Explorer Gallery