Over 200,000 creatures call the oceans home, including one very confusing snail

Giant jellyfish Keesingia gigas from Western Australia is venomous and tentacle-free.Photo: WoRMS/jatotte-MIRG AustraliaCOPYRIGTH. DO NOT REUSE

A seaside snail found in rock pools on almost every stretch of coast around Britain has been named as the most misidentified creature in the world. Rough periwinkles are commonly seen on shorelines around the North Atlantic but come with so many colour and shape variations that they have confused scientists for centuries.

Researchers cataloguing the world’s marine life have found that scientists claimed to have discovered the molluscs as different species and sub-species at least 113 times, more than any other animal or plant.