Snails and Shells
Esther Wullschleger
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Snails that shoot poison darts
Cone snails hunt prey by shooting harpoon-like poisonous darts at them. The toxins of some species can kill humans - but are a great hope in biomedical research. Cone snails are threatened through habitat loss and exploitative collecting mainly for their picturesque shells.
The life span of different snail species can vary considerably. While some slugs live for a season only, some shelled snails might reach an age of several decades!
Similarly like leaf-cutting ants, a marine snail is capable of enhancing the availability of a fungus. It eats wounds into healthy plant parts, and then nourishes itself on the fungus that settles in the plant wounds.
The Queen conch is making a favorite dish for gourmets in the Caribbean and in Florida. Consequently, it suffers from commercial exploitation. A new snail farm dedicated at saving the species has now been established in Florida.
When snail shells get new inhabitants
Empty snail shells are no waste in nature. There is quite a large number of organisms that uses them for shelter. Most famous among them: the hermit crabs.
Sea slugs, also called butterflies of the sea, are extraordinarily colorful snails that live in all oceans. Their colors serve as camouflage on certain substrates - or as a warning to potential predators: do not eat these toxic snails.
A deep sea expedition in 1952 revealed a very peculiar mollusc whose closest relatives were only known as fossils: Neopilina galathea, a small, limpet-like snail, has been a zoological sensation.
The spotted garden slug appears to have a special preference for crawling into humid cellars. But is it really a pest? The diet of this slug is incredibly diverse, ranging from fungi to plants and other small animals.
Abalones have quite an unusual shell: Since the last whirl of the flat shell is always much broader than the previous ones, it resembles a human ear.
Pearls have been thrilling humans for centuries. Though, few are aware of the fact that these structures are the result of a mussel's reaction to an invader in its tissue.