It looks as if a smiley has taken up residence beneath the waves, but it is in fact a blue-rayed limpet.
The 15mm sea snail with unusual shell markings was pictured by John Hepburn at Wembury Point in Devon.
‘It looks just like a smiley face,’ the snorkeller said.
‘I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. It just shows what an amazing place the sea is.’
Mr Hepburn, who said he had encountered a lot of blue-rayed limpets, only noticed the unusual design when he processed the images.
He added: ‘I’ve seen lots of blue rayed limpets and they’re the prettiest sea snail with the vivid blue lines.
‘But when I got home and looked at the photos I saw this one had some extra black markings on its shell.’
The creature, officially known as the Patella pellucida, can normally be found in eastern Atlantic waters, near countries such as Norway and Portugal.
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