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How does the marine snail Vermetus gigas use mucus strings to catch plankton?

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Two wild horses graze on tall grass in the open prairie of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, with rolling badlands visible in the background. — Feeding behaviour Wild horses graze in the Badlands of North Dakota.

The marine snail Vermetus gigas employs a mucoid feeding mechanism to capture food from the water column. To feed, the snail secretes sticky mucus strings that can extend up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) away from its shell into the surrounding current.1

These strings act as a trap, causing fine plankton and other suspended particulate matter to become entangled in the mucus. At regular intervals, the snail retrieves these food-laden strings by drawing them back toward its mouth to be ingested, after which it spreads a new set of mucus strings to continue the process. This method is a specialized form of mucoid feeding, which is one of several structural mechanisms animals use to procure nutrients from their environment.21