Snails

[mossy_sloth]

That is a beautiful story Dingo.

I completely respect anyone who goes to such lengths for an animal, however small or seemingly insignificant.

 

[fluffle9]

I used to keep snails, in an old fish tank in the garden. My mother hated it though, because they kept escaping, and then I'd go around the neighbourhood and collect more, which would then escape and eat her plants.

 

[ramonmercado]

Thought I'd bring this thread out of its shell. I'm sure scargy will like it.

Tale Of Two Snails Reveals Secrets About The Biochemistry Of Evolution
29 Oct 2008

Researchers in Spain are reporting deep new insights into how evolution changes the biochemistry of living things, helping them to adapt to new environments. Their study, based on an analysis of proteins produced by two populations of marine snails, reveals chemical differences that give one population a survival-of-the fittest edge for life in its cold, wave-exposed environment. Their report is scheduled for the November 7 issue of ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, a monthly publication.

In the new study, Emilio Rolán-Alvarez and colleagues note that scientists long have known that animals of the same species can have different physical characteristics enabling them to survive in different habitats. One famous example is the different beak sizes and shapes that evolved in Darwin's finches, enabling the birds to live on different foods in different habitats on the Galapagos Islands. Until now, however, scientists knew little about the invisible biochemical changes behind such adaptations.

To help fill those gaps, the scientists studied two populations of marine snails that live only a few feet apart on the Spanish coast. One group lives on the lower shore, typically submerged in water and protected from large changes in temperature. The other group lives on the upper shore exposed to daily changes in temperature, humidity and other environmental conditions. Tests with mass spectrometry showed major differences in about 12 percent of the proteins in the snail, a subset of proteins that apparently enables the snails to survive in different environmental conditions.

ARTICLE
"Proteomic Comparison between Two Marine Snail Ecotypes Reveals Details about the Biochemistry of Adaptation"
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cg ... 0863e.html

Source
Emilio Rolán-Alvarez, Ph.D.
Universidad de Vigo
Vigo, Spain
http://www.uvigo.es

Michael Bernstein
American Chemical Society (ACS)
http://www.acs.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/127389.php

 

[ramonmercado]

Thought I'd bring this thread out of its shell. I'm sure scargy will like it.

Tale Of Two Snails Reveals Secrets About The Biochemistry Of Evolution
29 Oct 2008

Researchers in Spain are reporting deep new insights into how evolution changes the biochemistry of living things, helping them to adapt to new environments. Their study, based on an analysis of proteins produced by two populations of marine snails, reveals chemical differences that give one population a survival-of-the fittest edge for life in its cold, wave-exposed environment. Their report is scheduled for the November 7 issue of ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, a monthly publication.

In the new study, Emilio Rolán-Alvarez and colleagues note that scientists long have known that animals of the same species can have different physical characteristics enabling them to survive in different habitats. One famous example is the different beak sizes and shapes that evolved in Darwin's finches, enabling the birds to live on different foods in different habitats on the Galapagos Islands. Until now, however, scientists knew little about the invisible biochemical changes behind such adaptations.

To help fill those gaps, the scientists studied two populations of marine snails that live only a few feet apart on the Spanish coast. One group lives on the lower shore, typically submerged in water and protected from large changes in temperature. The other group lives on the upper shore exposed to daily changes in temperature, humidity and other environmental conditions. Tests with mass spectrometry showed major differences in about 12 percent of the proteins in the snail, a subset of proteins that apparently enables the snails to survive in different environmental conditions.

ARTICLE
"Proteomic Comparison between Two Marine Snail Ecotypes Reveals Details about the Biochemistry of Adaptation"
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cg ... 0863e.html

Source
Emilio Rolán-Alvarez, Ph.D.
Universidad de Vigo
Vigo, Spain
http://www.uvigo.es

Michael Bernstein
American Chemical Society (ACS)
http://www.acs.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/127389.php

 

[ramonmercado]

Sad news for Scargy.

Third of snail species here threatened with extinction
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 14571.html
MICHAEL PARSONS

Wed, Jan 20, 2010

ONE THIRD of Ireland’s snail species are threatened with extinction, according to new research compiled by the National Biodiversity Data Centre.

The State body, which monitor’s the country’s biological diversity, has found that declining water quality, the building boom and certain agricultural and forestry practices are contributing to the species’ decline.

Ireland is home to 150 types of snail. Of these, two are now considered to be extinct, five critically endangered, 14 endangered, 26 vulnerable and six “near-threatened”.

Researchers have found that two native species are already extinct. The lapidary snail ( Helicigona lapicida ) , once found only in a gorge of the river Blackwater at Fermoy in east Co Cork, has “not been seen alive since 1968”, while the last recorded evidence of the mud pond snail ( Omphiscola glabra ) was in 1979 before it was “lost to habitat destruction”.

One of Ireland’s rarest varieties is the round-mouthed snail ( Pomatias elegans ) which is found only in New Quay, Co Clare. The report found it is “critically endangered” by “development pressure and physical disturbance”.

Snails on the “vulnerable list” include the whirlpool ram’s horn ( Anisus vortex ), traditionally found in clear, weedy water in larger streams, rivers and lakes. It has suffered a 63 per cent distributional decline since 1980 and “a major factor in its decline is falling water quality”.

The marsh whorl snail ( Vertigo antivertigo ) found across Ireland in fens, marshes, lakeshores and riverbanks has declined by more than 30 per cent in the last 30 years.

Among the six species of snail specifically protected by EU legislation, only one is considered safe in Ireland. The Kerry slug ( Geomalacus maculosus ) which is “restricted to sandstone areas of Kerry and west Cork”, has “a strong viable population and may be capable of expanding its range with global warming”.

However, the Kerry slug’s habitat can be endangered by “invasive” plants such as rhododendrons.

The data is contained in a new website, biodiversityireland.ie, which has been launched to mark the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity 2010. Its aim is to make “information more readily available for improved decision-making, particularly in relation to climate change, land-use change and biodiversity protection measures”.

The National Biodiversity Data Centre, which was established three years ago, is funded by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and is based in Waterford.

 

[escargot]

 

[danny_cogdon]

Clearly your species is in serious danger of extinction!

We need to do something about this.

Contact me at [email protected] and we can work something out. 8)

 

[ramonmercado]

Good news for Scargy

Snail protection plan off to a tee at Doonbeg Golf Club
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 42594.html

GORDON DEEGAN

Tue, Mar 30, 2010

THE POPULATION of a protected snail, the Vertigo angustior, at the Greg Norman-designed Doonbeg golf course has increased six-fold to 60 million. With more of the snail living there than almost anywhere else, the conservation project can now be regarded as a model of its kind.

That is according to an expert in the subject, Dr Evelyn Moorkens, who has monitored the management by Doonbeg Golf Club of the 1.8mm snail at the west Co Clare links over the past 10 years.

She said yesterday: “The snail is thriving at the course, and what has occurred at Doonbeg is a model in terms of sustainable development, and I can’t think of another instance where the notion of sustainable development as understood in the EU habitats directive has been embraced so much.”

The presence of the snail at the course held up its construction in 2000 after Tony Lowes of the Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) took a High Court action seeking to ensure the conservation of the snail.

The protection of the animal was the subject of a High Court settlement with Mr Lowes, and also part of the planning conditions granted by An Bord Pleanála.

According to Dr Moorkens, the estimated snail population at the course has grown from 10 million in 2000 to 60 million last year.

“Last year was a phenomenal year for the snail at the course. The damp conditions, along with the management regime in place, were perfect for the snail. There are now more snails at the course than are present in most countries.”

Dr Moorkens, an independent ecological consultant, was commenting yesterday arising from a report on the snail just lodged by her at Clare County Council concerning a plan by Doonbeg Golf Club for the retention of a contentious wall.

She lodges annual reports with the Department of the Environment on the conservation status of the snail.

Dr Moorkens said: “The management by the golf club of the snail has been superb. You can’t fault them. It is nature as it should be.”

One of the conservation measures carried out by the golf club is “hiring” cattle to graze in a special area of conservation (SAC) during certain periods of the year, to ensure that the dunes do not become overgrown.

Dr Moorkens said: “You have to hand it to them. They are up for the challenge, and that is what people want to see.”

The general manager of Doonbeg Golf Club, Joe Russell, said: “I think wherever golf is played Doonbeg will always be identified with our snail, Vertigo angustior. Happily, since the golf club was established, the snail has thrived.”

Mr Lowes said: “Doonbeg Golf Club and the Parks and Wildlife Service both deserve great credit, but it’s worth remembering that this level of conservation was only achieved by a long struggle through An Bord Pleanála and the Irish courts.”

 

[ramonmercado]

Anyone for homing snails/ Snail fanciers?

Snails 'have a homing instinct'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10856523
By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News
Advertisement

Dr Dave Hodgson from Exeter University explains how the experiment works

A 69-year-old amateur scientist has apparently discovered that her garden snails have a homing instinct.

The result has astonished some professionals who believe that snails are far too simple creatures to find their way home.

So with the help of BBC Radio 4's Material World Programme they have launched a national experiment to settle the question.

The idea for the experiment started last year - when Ruth Brooks became exasperated with the snails in her garden.

They had eaten her lettuce, ravaged her petunias and devastated her beans.

She was too kindly a person to kill them - so she took them away to a nearby piece of waste land. But she found that they kept coming back.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

if Ruth's findings are true we'll have to rethink our theories”

End Quote Dr Dave Hodgson University of Exeter

"I really don't like killing snails with pellets or salt and I wanted to find a humane way of protecting my garden," she said.

It is gardener's lore that snails have a homing instinct. But Ruth wondered if there was a scientific basis to this.

For help, Ms Brooks called Material World, who put her in touch with Dr Dave Hodgson, a biologist at Exeter University.

Together they devised a series of experiments to assess the snails' alleged homing ability.

Ruth's results suggest that snails are able to home. She found that her snails were able to return to her garden unless they were placed more than 10 metres away.
Simple minds?

It was a result that astonished Dr Hodgson: "The conventional thinking is that snails are far too simple to be able to find their way home. So if Ruth's findings are true we'll have to rethink our theories."

Ruth's result is from just one experiment. In science, researchers try to do as many experiments as they can to ensure they have not got a freakish result - or in Ruth's case - that she has particularly clever snails.
Snail It is gardener's lore that snails have a homing instinct

To learn more, Dr Hodgson has invited members of the public to take part in a National "Snail Swap" Experiment.

He is asking people to collect their garden snails in a bucket and label them with coloured nail varnish - a process he says does not harm them.

The next step is to persuade a neighbour and nearby friend to do the same - but they have to label their snails a different colour. The final step is to swap buckets and wait to see if any of your snails come back.

"It could be a long process," says Dr Hodgson, "because snails aren't the fastest of creatures."

Sent packing

According to Michelle Martin, who is managing the project for BBC Radio 4: "Taking part in this experiment is a great way to keep bored children entertained during the school holidays, and you'll be contributing to real science research.

"Even if none of your swapped snails return we'd like you to enter your results online, as the data will help ecologists understand the behaviour of these ancient creatures."

This study concerned only one type of snail, but there are many others. For example, the giant African land snail, which, as an invasive species, has become a serious crop pest in Asia, would cover a much wider territiory than its smaller European cousins.

This means it would have to be taken much further away to ensure it did not come back.

But, currently, we do not know for sure if they really do behave like that Observers say it would be interesting to replicate this study elsewhere to see if there really is a difference between the homing behaviour of different types of snails.

If the results back Ruth Brooks' claims - gardeners will have to do more than just throw their snails over the garden fence to be rid of their pests.

And scientists will have to think again about the now not so humble garden snail.

If you want to take part in the experiment, go to Material World's website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/snails

 

[escargot]

Never underestimate the gastropod. 8)

 

[ramonmercado]

Maybe not High Weirdness but it beats Ryan Air. Bet scargie travels this way.

Jonah snails travel the world inside bird guts
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... -guts.html
17 March 2012
Magazine issue 2856.

NEED a lift? Get eaten by a duck. Some snails survive inside bird guts for hours at a time, travelling hundreds of kilometres before popping out the other end unscathed.

Intrigued by stories of live snails found in bird faeces, Casper van Leeuwen of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in Wageningen fed four species of marine snail to mallards. Most died, but 1 per cent of Hydrobia ulvae snails survived up to 5 hours. Mallards can cover 300 kilometres in that time (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032292).

"Lots of birds eat tens of thousands of snails every day," says Ryan Hechinger of the University of California at Santa Barbara. "Even if only a small fraction pass through, a substantial amount must be spread into new areas." He has found genetic evidence to suggest that marine snails repeatedly travelled between the Pacific and the Atlantic after the isthmus of Panama had formed, possibly by hitching rides with birds.

Given the low survival rate, it's probably not a deliberate strategy on the snails' part, says van Leeuwen. "I don't think the snail wants to be eaten. It just makes the best of a bad thing."

It's not just marine snails that travel the world on board Air Intestine. A recent study showed that 15 per cent of a Japanese land snail (Tornatellides boeningi) also survive being eaten by birds (Journal of Biogeography, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011. 02559.x). One snail even gave birth to young after emerging from its bird host.

 

[dan_uid0]

Never underestimate the gastropod. 8)

Indeed not; I seem to have especially enterprising snails in my garden, although the idiot one which was found in the air filter of my car did not survive the experience. It was clearly dafter than its mates.

Retarded ones aside, I seem to have a population of commuting snails. They live in the drystone wall that surrounds my patch of lawn by day, and under cover of darkness sally forth across the garden path, over the low wall and into next door's garden there to ravage their bedding plants. The CCTV camera above my front door usually catches these canny commuters making a dash back over the wall to rocky safety in the mornings.

This year, I shall be painting numbers on their shells, to try to determine how far from my garden these underrated molluscs are actually ranging...

 

[SHAYBARSABE]

This year, I shall be painting numbers on their shells, to try to determine how far from my garden these underrated molluscs are actually ranging...

That's a good idea!

Although we don't use pesticides, etc. in our garden, and although it's been quite wet here recently, we have no snails. We did spot a very well-fed possum the other night, however.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

The Victorians were convinced that the species Achatina acicula was delighted by dead men's brains:

During the exhibition of the several objects found at Kempston, Mr. Wyatt called attention to the remarkable fact that every skull he had examined from this Saxon cemetery contained a considerable number of small shells. They are of the species Achatina acicula. This curious little mollusc is distinguished from others by its long, slender, turreted shell, and glossy, ivory-like exterior: but by workmen is often taken for a maggot. Although so beautiful in appearance it is repulsive in its habits, always occupying subterranean abodes and living upon animal matter, especially delighting in dead men's brains. This kind of diet it finds by some remarkable instinct, for it is blind: and there is no record of this mollusc ever having been found alive on the surface of the ground.

Fitch on Kempston Excavation, 1863-64

Another Victorian account here:

1890 Account

All results for the snail + human brain are Victorian.

Modern accounts don't appear to bear it out, so far as I can see. 8)

 

[ramonmercado]

Bet he had to shell out for a fine as well.

Glasgow Airport staff seize 36 giant African land snails
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-19648071

The giant African land snails have shells the size of a small human fist

Related Stories

Dealing with a deadly snail invasion

UK Border Force officers have seized 36 live giant African land snails from a Nigerian man at Glasgow Airport.

The snails, which the man claimed would be used for food, were found in his luggage following a flight from Amsterdam earlier this month.

The molluscs - which averaged about 15cm in length, with shells the size of a small human fist - were confiscated and passed to a rescue organisation.

The snails could have passed on disease to UK snails if released.

Continue reading the main story
The slimy world of slugs and snails


Snails and slugs are a group of molluscs known as gastropods
Marvel at the weird mating habits of the leopard slug - the UK's largest species
Watch gourmet gastropods brought by the Romans munching through Britain's gardens
Border Force officials confiscated the gastropods, as live animals require an import licence, which the man did not have.

He was also in breach of controls on the importation of products of animal origin.

Murdo MacMillan, from Border Force in Scotland, said: "The vigilance of our officers at Glasgow airport has stopped these snails from entering Scotland, and possibly posing a risk to our native plants and wildlife.

"I would warn travellers not to attempt to bring live animals into the UK without a permit, or to bring in any products of animal origin which may contain pests or diseases."

Restrictions on what can be brought into the country apply to products made from meat, dairy, fish, eggs and honey, as well as some fruit, vegetables and plants.

 

[Cyclops]

Where i live the walls are built from granite stones encasing an earth centre around all our gardens and there are millions of the little buggers ( and some quite big!) as well as whopping snails living in the cracks. It's always damp in Kernow and at night i can actually hear them all eating my plants... a chorus of rasping sounds.Sorry esc. i've ordered some hedgehogs!

I know this is a very old post, but I couldn't resist...

...like this?!

 

[GNC]

It's alarming some people keep giant snails as pets. What happens if they make a daring bid for freedom and race for the door? Swathes of plant life destroyed, that's what.

 

[marion]

They are from hot countries and wouldn't survive the winter here. I think they are banned as pets in warmer countries.

 

[Cyclops]

Yes, I used to keep them. But as Marion says, they wouldn't survive a British winter. They're interesting pets, but not terribly entertaining...

gnc, when I read your post, an image popped into my head of an Animal Liberation member breaking into my house and releasing my snails - and then standing for several hours by the open back door, arms outstretched, saying, "Go! Be free!!" over and over again.

 

[GNC]

Heh! Well, that's set my mind at rest, thanks. Although what if we have another mild winter?

 

[ramonmercado]

Heh! Well, that's set my mind at rest, thanks. Although what if we have another mild winter?

We'll be eaten by giant snails.

 

[Cyclops]

Heh! Well, that's set my mind at rest, thanks. Although what if we have another mild winter?

We'll be eaten by giant snails.

Unless we eat them first! Apparently they are edible. I don't think I could do it, though - there's a world of difference between popping a small morsel of gristle flavoured heavily with garlic and butter in your mouth and being asked "How many slices of snail with your roasties?"

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

This is all a bit insensitive considering one of our esteemed molluscy members might be reading.

 

[escargot]

At last, a gentleman. :lol:

 

[Cyclops]

 

[escargot]

Heh! Well, that's set my mind at rest, thanks. Although what if we have another mild winter?

We'll be eaten by giant snails.

It's all under control. 8)

 

[ramonmercado]

Heh! Well, that's set my mind at rest, thanks. Although what if we have another mild winter?

We'll be eaten by giant snails.

It's all under control. 8)

You will shelter us?

 

[ramonmercado]

Time for Scaegie to eat some chocolate.

Chocolate Makes Snails Smarter
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 091926.htm

Chocolate makes snails smarter. (Credit: © BeTa-Artworks / Fotolia)

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) — Type the word 'superfood,' into a web browser and you'll be overwhelmed: some websites even maintain that dark chocolate can have beneficial effects. But take a closer look at the science underpinning these claims, and you'll discover just how sparse it is. So, when University of Calgary undergraduate Lee Fruson became curious about how dietary factors might affect memory, Ken Lukowiak was sceptical. 'I didn't think any of this stuff would work', Lukowiak recalls.

Despite his misgivings, Lukowiak and Fruson decided to concentrate on a group of compounds -- the flavonoids -- found in a wide range of 'superfoods' including chocolate and green tea, focusing on one particular flavonoid, epicatechin (epi). However, figuring out how a single component of chocolate might improve human memory is almost impossible -- too many external factors influence memory formation -- so Lukowiak turned to his favourite animal, the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, to find out whether the dark chocolate flavonoid could improve their memories.

They recently published their discovery that epi improves the length and strength of snail memories in The Journal of Experimental Biology.

According to Lukowiak, the molluscs can be trained to remember a simple activity: to keep their breathing tubes (pneumostomes) closed when immersed in deoxygenated water. He explains that pond snails usually breathe through their skins, but when oxygen levels fall, they extend the breathing tube above the surface to supplement the oxygen supply. However, the snails can be trained to remember to keep the breathing tube closed in deoxygenated water by gently tapping it when they try to open it, and the strength of the memory depends on the training regime.

First, Fruson identified an epi concentration -- 15 mg m1 pond water -- that didn't affect the snails' behaviour; 'We have to be sure that we're not looking at wired animals', chuckles Lukowiak. Then, the duo tested the molluscs' memories. Explaining that a half-hour training session in deoxygenated water allows the snails to form intermediate-term memories (lasting less than 3 h) but not long-term memories (lasting 24 h or more), Fruson and Lukowiak wondered whether epi would improve the snail's memories, allowing them to form long-term memories after shorter memory training. Amazingly, when Fruson plunged the molluscs into deoxygenated water to tested their memories a day later, they remembered to keep their breathing tubes closed. And when the duo provided the snails with two training sessions, the animals were able to remember to keep their breathing tubes shut more than 3 days later. Epi had boosted the molluscs' memories and extended the duration, but how strong were the epi-memories?

Lukowiak explains that memories can be overwritten by another memory in a process called extinction. However, the original memory is not forgotten and if the additional memory is stored weakly, it can be lost and the original memory restored. So, Fruson and Lukowiak decided to find out how strong the epi-boosted memory was by trying to extinguish it. Having trained the snails, the duo then tried to replace it with a memory where the snails could open their breathing tubes. However, instead of learning the new memory, the epi-trained snails stubbornly kept their breathing tubes shut. The epi-memory was too strong to be extinguished.

The duo also found that instead of requiring a sensory organ to consolidate the snails' memories -- like their memories of predators triggered by smell -- epi directly affects the neurons that store the memory. So, Lukowiak is keen to look directly at the effect that epi has on memory neurons and adds that the cognitive effects of half a bar of dark chocolate could even help your grades: good news for chocoholics the world over.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Journal of Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. The original article was written by Kathryn Knight.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Lee Fruson, Sarah Dalesman and Ken Lukowiak. A flavonol present in cocoa [(?)epicatechin] enhances snail memory. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2012 DOI: 10.1242/?jeb.070300

 

[escargot]

I knew it all along.

 

[ramonmercado]

ScienceShot: Stone Age Snails
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2 ... tml?ref=hp
by Sid Perkins on 19 June 2013, 5:00 PM | 2 Comments

sn-snailtrail.jpg
Credit: Lauren Holden

A variety of snails common in western Ireland may have been transported there by humans during the Stone Age, a new study suggests. Cepaea nemoralis, the banded wood snail, is found in many locales in Western Europe and is typically 1.5 centimeters across, about the width of an adult's thumbnail. But a subpopulation of the species found in western Ireland ranges up to twice that size and has a distinctive white lip on its shell to boot—traits also seen in members of the species from southern France, along the northern slopes of the Pyrenees. In previous studies, carbon-dating of shells revealed that the normally rare, white-lipped variant arrived in Ireland more than 8000 years ago. Now, geneticists have linked the Irish snails to the Pyrenees. As they report online today in PLOS ONE, they found that one particular lineage of the species—with two exceptions, both associated with snails found along the coasts of the Irish Sea—were found only in Ireland and in the central and eastern Pyrenees. How the snails reached Ireland but apparently skipped intermediate regions has long been a mystery. It's most likely, the researchers suggest, that the rare white-lipped variant of the snail hitched a ride with traders traveling from the Mediterranean region through the Pyrenees on their way to Ireland—perhaps unintentionally, in fodder for the trader's animals or, more intriguingly, as a part of the trader's food supplies. French cuisine, after all, has long been famed for its escargot.