Janthina snails make a surprise San Diego appearance

Tiny Purple Visitors Just Crashed La Jolla Shores — and Scientists Are Thrilled

If you have been walking La Jolla Shores lately and noticed something surprisingly purple against the sand, you were not imagining things. A rare tropical sea snail called Janthina — also known as the violet sea snail — has washed ashore on San Diego beaches for the first time in a decade, and researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography are pretty excited about it.

These marble-sized creatures sport a deep violet shell that pops dramatically against the dull gray sand, making them nearly impossible to miss. What makes them truly fascinating is how they travel: Janthina snails secrete a substance that traps air bubbles and creates a natural bubble raft, allowing them to float upside down at the ocean's surface, drifting wherever the currents and winds take them.

Their unusual appearance here is tied to warmer ocean currents pushing in from offshore, marking the first local sighting since 2015 and sparking questions about climate change. The day the specimens were discovered at La Jolla Shores, the researcher who found them noted the water felt noticeably warm.

The snails were discovered by Anya Stajner, a PhD student at Scripps, who stumbled across them while walking her dog. The specimens are now preserved as part of the Scripps Pelagic Invertebrate Collection, where they will support ongoing research into these elusive marine visitors.

Janthina are also known to feed on by-the-wind sailors (Velella velella), which have washed ashore in San Diego in recent seasons, and on the Portuguese man o'war.

If you spot one, take a photo and send it to Scripps. And since La Jolla Shores is a no-take zone, leave them where they are — these little travelers have already had a long journey.

Sources: FOX 5 San Diego | CBS 8 | The Inertia | FOX 11 LA | The Hill