Under the sand at the bottom of the lagoon in Dongsha Island live a group of agile Ninjas—the Nassariidaes— led by Nassarius albescens as the most representative among all, which detect the smell of their food and creep out from under the sand and draw near their prey in haste. They eat by sticking out their long siphonal notch and scraping the food off with their redula at the tip of their notch. In a healthy ecosystem, the Nassariidaes will not leave the corpses of any animals unattended for too long, but mobilize to clean up these “tasty delicacies” in no time, keeping a balanced cycle of ecosystem by playing the role of scavengers.

Another intriguing sight of Nassarius albescens is their feather-like coating, formed by the parabiosis of hydrozoans (Genus Cytaeis), on the surface of their shells. Some hydrozoans would give off a green fluorescent glimmer while performing photo  synthesis on the snails. Such activities are only reported in Kagoshima in Japan (Cytaeis sp.) and northern Sulawesi in Indonesia (Cytaeis capitata) around the world, a solid proof of the pristine and unpolluted environment of Dongsha Atoll.

• upper left：Ninjas dressed with feathers
• upper right：Nassarius albescens