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Rare NZ Snail


Rare NZ Snail
Photo Information
Copyright: Sue Way (sway) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 303 W: 85 N: 308] (1224)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-07-30
Categories: Molluscs
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC-F828
Exposure: f/8
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): RARE or SIGNIFICANT contributions to TN 2 [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-07-30 3:47
Viewed: 1994
Points: 15
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Powelliphanta snails are not your common garden snail! Powelliphanta are giants of the snail world. They can reach up to 90mm across, or the size of a man’s fist.

They are also beautiful. Their oversize shells come in an array of colours and patterns, ranging from hues of red and brown to yellow and black.

And Powelliphanta snails are most unlikely to be found in your garden. Most favour living in the forest, and particularly like to eat earthworms, sucking them up through their mouth just like we eat spaghetti!

In fact, these meat-eating giants of the forest floor are true biological oddities. They are as representative of New Zealand’s unique evolutionary history as the kakapo, moa or kiwi.

Unfortunately, they are also one of the most threatened of New Zealand’s invertebrates. A total of 40 species or subspecies are ranked as being of national conservation concern.

Powelliphanta snails lay about 5-10 large eggs a year. Each egg is up to 12-14mm long, pearly pink and hard-shelled - just like a small bird’s egg!

It is estimated that Powelliphanta snails can live up to 20 years. In snail terms, that is an incredibly long life span!

The snail you see pictured here was about 3cm across. I spent the day walking in the bush searching for one of our native snails and this is what I came up with. They have a beautiful shell.

I used Photoshop to crop and resize the photo.
omnia, TAZ, Janice, scottevers7, sandpiper2, fungiman, gerhardt, valy67, Alan_Kolnik has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Jancie: Weird plantsway 1 07-30 19:54
To Jancie: Rare NZ Snailsway 1 07-30 19:49
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • omnia Silver Star Critiquer [C: 34 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2005-07-30 4:23]

Unbelievable - the size of a hand! Scary. I have never heard of anything so strange. I think I'll have nightmares after that description. Beautiful shot - nice detail and texture. Very pretty for a snail.

Hey Sue,

Wonderful shot. Well done. You have represented this little guy very well. DOF is perfect, and sharpness is excellent. Good on you mate.

So you got to see the snails Sue! Excellent find here. I know nothing about these, so your notes are very interesting.
Good photo, details are nice and sharp, and I like the greenery he is crawling on. What is it, do you know? How big was this fella?
Well done.

Hi Sue,
Excellent shot of this big guy. The colors are very good, and the detail and texture is superb. Even the plant he is on looks amazing. Nice Shot! abd excellent notes.
Scott

Great shot of this giant snail, a new one for me to behold. I like the POV and composition, but would have tried to do something with the shaddow...maybe fill-flash. Anyway TFS.

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2241 W: 47 N: 3167] (10926)
  • [2005-07-31 3:52]

What a nice snail that you have well captured ! I like its colors ! Thanks for sharing Sue.

It is a nice composition and I like the use of shadows to hide the one side of the snail. You might consider diffusing the light source a bit as it left hot spots in the capture. It's a minor nit though.

Very clear and sharp view of this creature. The colors work very well to make every detail stand out. Interesting note as well.

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