Swimming pteropods - Limacina helicina antarctica

Limacina helicina antarctica collected on the Palmer, Antarctica Long-Term Ecological Research cruise in January 2019. Video by Patricia Thibodeau (VIMS). Pteropods (tero-pod) are open-ocean snails that occur throughout the world’s oceans. The foot on the common garden snail has evolved into ‘wings’ allowing the pteropod to move through water, giving them the common name “sea butterfly”. These snails range from 2-7mm in size and from transparent to black in color depending on the region. See the related science highlight at