I Have To Say,

this is one amazing creature,

 it lives 2.78 kilometers (1.7 miles) underneath the surface of the Indian Ocean, and has a number of unique traits, it is Crysomallon squamiferum, commonly known as scaly foot gastropod, photograph 10.1371/journal.pone.0032965, scaly foot lives around hydrothermal vents are spewing out water around 350°C (660°F), which is unusual enough, but it has developed a natural metallic armor that is unlike any other known natural or synthetically engineered armor, making it even more unusual, it does not need to eat, as a bacteria in its gut produces all the nutrients it needs to survive, as it happens we have featured a few other snails on our blog here,

discovered in 1999, Crysomallon squamiferum has been a source of wonder for marine life researchers ever since, because of its ability to thrive in a hostile environment, but more so because of its unique armor. The snail’s shell has three layers: a highly calcified inner layer, a thick organic middle layer, and an outer layer that is fused with granular iron sulfide, making it considerably tougher than the shells of most gastropods, also there is the scalemail-like armor covering the snail’s otherwise squishy foot, they are made of iron sulfides (pyrite and greigite) and provide excellent protection against the predators known to live in the same environment – cone snails, which penetrate their victims with a needle-sharp tooth before paralyzing them with a potent venom, and seafaring crabs, which use their strong vice-like claws to squeeze their prey, 

another fascinating trait of these  armored snails is their size, comparable to that of common garden snails, it is surprisingly large for the environment it inhabits, three times the size of other known deep sea, sadly, despite the apparent toughness of this armored snail, we have managed to put it on the endangered creatures list, due to deep-sea mining. And experts warn that because of the specific conditions of its environment, we may well not be able to breed them artificially, “These are fragile areas under threat, and it’s not like we researchers can start a breeding program for deep-sea-vent creatures, we can only try to protect what’s there,” Julia Sigwart, a deep-sea biologist at Queen’s University Belfast, told Nature, what a fascinating creature.