It’s a species of sea snail found in the Indo-Pacific with a funky red, blue and white colouring.

I saw some pictures of the red-lined bubble snail on Tumblr and I thought it might have been AI – but no, it’s a real thing! Here’s a photo from the Wikipedia article:

I’m fascinated by the iridescent blue, which looks like something out of sci-fi, and lets at least some light through. It’s blurry, but you can definitely see the shape and colour of the rocks beneath it.

For references, the Wikipedia article includes a link to an entry in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), which includes the history of the taxonomic description, a map showing where it’s found, and a couple of photos of the shells.

The WoRMS entry also links to a digitised copy of an 1825 article in Annals of Philosophy. Here’s the relevant passage, a Latin description of the snail:

Bulla lineata. Testa ovato-oblonga, pellucida, densè spiraliter striata, alba; fasciis duabus spiralibus, et lineolis coccineis concentricis ornata; spira conic; apertura elongata, integer. β spira depressa, long, 2-3 unc.

A list and description of some species of Shells not taken notice of by Lamarck, Page 408, by John Edward Gray. Digitised by the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

The Google Translate translation is a pretty good match for the snail in the original picture:

Bulla lineata. Shell ovate-oblong, pellucid, densely spirally striated, white; adorned with two spiral bands and concentric scarlet lines; spiral conical; aperture elongate, entire. β spiral depressed, long, 2-3 in.

The word “pellucid” is new to me, the dictionary tells me it means “transparent” or “clear”. The etymology makes sense too; it comes from “per” (through) and “lucid” (light).

Given this was being described in 1825, these snails can’t live that deep in the ocean. I’ve heard of creatures with transparent skin which live in total darkness, where skin pigmentation is unnecessary because there’s no light to see by – this is the first I’ve heard of transparent skin on a creature which might experience sunlight.

Once again, nature is weirder than anything humans can imagine.