To prepare for the extraction I gathered a tweezers, long stick pin, razor blade, flashlight, a small cup of tank water, in case the snail was still alive, a small plate, camera, and paper towels.

I began with the pin, gently prying the shell loose and lifting it out.  I expected this to be all it would take to just dump the snail out, but as you will see here, it was stuck tight inside the starfish arm.

Anything that shows up yellow in these pictures is a piece of the snail.  The body was "gooey" but solid, and seemingly strong for such a little creature.

The body of the snail was white to slight yellow in color.  The shell seemed almost transparent, white in color, with orange marks near the tip. 

The white tissue we viewed inside of the hole was actually the edge of the snail shell, with the foot of the snail attempting to emerge from the hole.  While it was able to eat away at the flesh, the shell of the starfish was too thick and hard.  The hole was not going to get any larger, and the snail was actually trapped inside the arm.

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