Ever Wondered What Snail Embryos Looked Like?

We often see terrestrial snails loitering in the foliage, but have ignored them because they were too common. Their eggs however, were less common but still ignored as they looked really plain. It wasn't only until recently that we examined these crummy little globules of see-through masses to witness a magical view of the mind-blowing detail within, thanks to Melvyn!

1. Snail eggs (Gastropoda)
   Snail eggs usually looked plain, at least under normal frontal light. Just boring little globules right?


2. Snail hatchling (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   This oddly shaped mass of what looked like snail eggs had us looking closer, only to discover tiny little snail hatchlings emerging from the eggs!


3. Snail hatchling (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   The newborn can be seen to be crawling slowly away from the eggs.


4. Snail hatchling (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   Sometimes, it stopped to look around.


5. Snail hatchling (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   Aren't they cute? The additional black spots above belonged to yet another hatchling!


6. Snail embryos (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   A few steps down, another batch of eggs was spotted. They seemed to contain more than the typical eggs, and it seemed impossible to light up the inside without overexposing the surface with highlights and washing out the detail within. With a flash placed behind, we were treated with a magnificent view of the embryos in the eggs!


7. Snail embryos (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   The tiny black dot would be one of the eyes of the little ones.


8. Snail embryos (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   Having the scene lit from behind was like viewing an X-ray. Due to the translucence of the embryos, we could almost see through them.


9. Snail embryos (Gastropoda) Buy this Photo
   Some of the snail's shells have already taken shape!

Next time when you see these little egg masses, have a closer look yourself and see what you've been missing out!

The complete album for this field trip can be viewed here.

Check out my Flickr set for more examples and ideas for back-lighting in macro photography.