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Past Adventures

Evolution in Action--The Walking Snail

From: harriss@bnr.ca (Scott Harris)
Newsgroups: rec.aquaria,sci.aquaria,alt.aquaria
Subject: An INCREDIBLE Snail Story
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Message-ID: <4cc2jd$sh0@batph8.bnr.ca>
Xref: batph8.bnr.ca rec.aquaria:34803 sci.aquaria:10038 alt.aquaria:25174


An incredible event happened in my tank over the holidays....

I have a turbo snail (it's described as a "Zebra Turbo", I don't know the
genus or species) which decided to evolve!  On Tuesday of last week, I noticed
that this particular snail (which is unique in my tank) was missing.  I
figured that it must be hiding somewhere behind the rock.

On Thursday morning, while doing some maintenance, I noticed a small lump on
the carpet behind the aquarium.  I reached down and was amazed to see that it
was my favorite little zebra turbo snail.  He was as dry as possible, and he
had placed his little protective plate tightly over the entrance to his shell.

I figured him for dead and was about to flush him, but my wife suggested I
place him in a quarantine box with some of the main tank's water.  So I
figured, what the heck, I'll give it a try.  (After all, he didn't smell
rotten, so who knows?)

Well, much to my surprise, he was alive and well after what (I estimate) must
have been at least 24 hrs out of the tank.  After an hour back in water, he was
crawling up the side of the box.  He had left a huge pile of droppings behind,
which were ejected from his shell within 10 minutes of it's reintroduction to
water.  (He must have been saving those up.)  As far as respiration and
sustenance go... I have no idea how this little snail existed outside of water
for so long!

I nervously explained to my wife that he must have that urge to walk.  She now
has these frightened notions of a snail which likes to regularly leave the
aquarium and lay eggs in the carpet.

Does anyone know anything more about this kind of thing?  Has this ever
happened to anyone else?  My salinity had dropped to 1.20 so I'm curious if
this triggered the event.  Or maybe this snail's lifecycle is such that it
regularly leaves the water to lay eggs... or something!

In any case, he's happily back in the tank now.  (Until his next journey!)

Scott

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