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A new snail was discovered off the coast of Florida — resembling a bright, citrus-colored species near the home of citrus margaritas.
Marine scientists recently discovered a new species off the coast of Florida in the Keys, which is also known for being the home of the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States, as SWNS reported.
The snails were named Cayo galbinus, meaning "small, low island" and "greenish-yellow," after their vibrant citrus color resembling a margarita from Jimmy Buffett’s "Margaritaville" on the Florida Keys island.
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The Florida Keys were known as the home of Jimmy Buffett for decades — ultimately inspiring his "Margaritaville" hit song. The musician passed away last month at age 76.
The discovery was published in the journal Peer J, and lead study author Dr. Rudiger Bieler told SWNS the snails are unique in that they never move once anchored into the ground.
The new snail species is named after Margaritaville in the Florida Keys for its citrus color and specific location. Shown here, the Keys Margarita Snail, Cayo margarita. It does not move once anchored to the ground. (SWNS)
"When the juveniles find a suitable spot to live, they hunker down, cement their shell to the substrate and never move again," he said.
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Bieler said these snails are "so small and so well-hidden" — which is why scientists haven’t discovered them until now.
A tiny margarita snail sits in the middle of a dead section of coral. Along with many animals found nowhere else in the world, the Florida Keys are home to the only living coral barrier reef in the continental U.S. (SWNS)
Scientists believe the new margarita snails belong to the same family as the "Spider-Man" snails that were described from the Vandenberg shipwreck in 2017 off the coast of the Florida Keys, as SWNS reported.
The USAFS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg was originally a transport ship from 1944 to 1958 before becoming a U.S. Air Force missile range instrumentation ship in 1961, according to the Michigan Traveler.
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In 2009, 26 years after its retirement, the ship was sunk seven miles south of Key West, Florida, where it lays today, according to The Florida Keys & Key West.
A new snail was discovered off the coast of Florida with a bright, citrus color. (SWNS)
Bieler said he and his colleagues came across the snails in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and even found similar-colored species in Belize.
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"Initially, when I saw the lime green one and the lemon yellow one, I figured they were the same species," he recalled.
"When we sequenced their DNA, they were very different."
Bieler said the discovery proves that there are still undiscovered species on Earth.
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