A pleasant surprise on the sandy parts of the lagoon at Big Sister's Island on New Year's Eve was this spider conch. For some reason, it was wandering away from its usual rubbly haunts and so stood out on the pale bottom with its shell of dark encrustations and green and growing things. As the snail limbered, a pair of beady eyes poked out in front to scan the darkness for troublesome obstacles and offensive ducks that take delight in going under foot. With its naked underside laid bare and brilliant with the colours of mother-of-pearl, the conch glared with indignation and made rude gestures with its eye stalks before whipping out its blade-like operculum to make a stab for modesty with its best, and only, foot forward, lurching with unseemly haste towards the seedy cover of brown and bladdered wrack.
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