WATCH: Relatively rare pelagic sea snail otherwise known as a sea butterfly spotted in Maltese waters
At first glance it might look like a piece of plastic, but it is actually so much more...
Gozo based diver, Pavel Hosnedl took to Facebook to share a video of a small creature he came across while diving at Xatt l-Ahmar however he was not quite sure what it was.
The video can be watched here.
“In more than a thousand days spent below the sea level I've never come across this”, he captioned the video.
Maltese marine biologist, Alan Deidun soon came to the rescue and confirmed that the animal in the video looks like a pelagic sea snail, otherwise more commonly known as a sea snail.
They are “relatively rare” in the Mediterranean, especially as they are oligotrophic animals, meaning they live in environments with low levels of nutrients.
Unfortunately, the sea butterfly is under threat as result of Ocean acidification making this an even a rarer occurrence.
Have you ever spotted one?
Instagram/Phil Lemley & Facebook/Pavel Hosnedl