Snails hitch a ride on mucus bubbles
Posted by staff / October 14, 2011
Instead of using slime to get around, a species of ocean-dwelling snail spends its life upside down, surfing on mucus bubbles that evolved from egg carriers to raft-like flotation devices.
Scientists have known about the snails’ peculiar lifestyle since the 1600s, but have wondered how the rafting habit evolved. New research finds the bubble rafting evolved by way of modified egg masses.
Members of the family Janthinidae, the snails secrete mucus from their “foot,” a broad, muscular organ at the base of the snail’s body, and trap air inside that forms the bubbles.
“We had a pretty good idea that that janthinids evolved from snails that live on the sea floor,” says Celia Churchill, a graduate student at the University of Michigan.
The question was, which specific group of snails gave rise to the janthinids, and how did the janthinid lineage make the transition from bottom dwellers to surface surfers?
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: Denis Riek
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