Creature Feature: Apple Snail.

I apologize in advance for the video I am about to show you:



Yes, snails can actually be interesting to watch. I had the pleasure of seeing one of these up close and active. These are apple snails (family Ampullaridae), and they are among the most popular freshwater aquarium snails in the trade. The 6 genera in the family can be found in the freshwater areas of South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the lower parts of North America.  They are also marketed as "mystery snails," which is a complete marketing gimmick. These snails are far from a mystery, but still quite cool. We'll focus on Pomacea for now; other apple snails are fascinating in their own rights.

Apple snails are among the few truly amphibious snails. They have both primitive lungs and gills.  The mantle - the part of the body that yields a shell - is actually divided between the two types of respiration. Thankfully, most apple snails can stay aquatic; only if food runs out in the water will they move onto land. They have survived for over 50 million years for a reason.

The shell even looks apple-y.

That said, if you intend to breed apple snails, it is not as easy as it is with some other snails. Unlike most snails, apple snails have sexes - they aren't hermaphrodites. Each species of apple snail has its own egg-laying style and preferences, so adjust accordingly. We wish there was a cute Valentine's Day pic with snails, but these guys and girls sound difficult to sex properly.  If taken care of, some snails can get shells up to 6 inches in diameter.

Apple snails have mixed effects when introduced to non-native ecologies. In Taiwan, apple snails were marketed as a protein source, but fell flat on their not-faces and escaped into the wild after being unprofitable. The population then exploded; remember, these are versatile, adaptable creatures. Before they were bred in captivity, many apple snails were actually unwelcome hitchhikers in aquaria. Times change.

 Other people deliberately introduce apple snails (but not Pomacea) to out-compete and even eat more harmful snails that are vectors for parasites - some deadly, some just annoying. They are even eaten in Mexico. Mystery snails no more; apple snails are here to stay, but we make no promises about keeping the doctor away.

Creature Feature: Sea Hares.

Not enough good things can be said about sea slugs. Really, our land slugs might not be that pretty (and even then, there are a few exceptions), but sea slugs are almost uniformly gorgeous. Even if they aren't breathtakingly pretty, even species as simple as sea hares have their own unique charm.

Aplysia parvula looks quite fetching here. :)

The term "sea hare" covers a few genera, most notably Aplysia. Sea hares are closely related to snails, but the shell, if any, only covers important organs. They eat seaweed, so don't worry about getting bitten by monster slugs should you encounter one. They can be found in the warm waters of California, northern Mexico, and Florida - or, at least, the major ones can be found there. Others can be found in temperate and tropical waters around the world.

As is the norm with invertebrates, there are so many different sorts of sea hares out there that they could almost get their own month on this blog. We will try to focus on the two varieties of California sea hare, simply because they are the two most commonly used in science (Aplysia vaccaria and Aplysia californica).

Sea hares get their name from the pointy rhinophores sticking up out of their heads. They look like rabbit ears, but they aren't for hearing. They allow the slug to smell and taste. Some sea hares ever have extra projections that look like a little bunny tail, just to make the similarity even clearer. Maybe the old tales of everything on land having a parallel in the sea were not so far off, after all.



Sea hares,  like cephalopods, are capable of expelling ink to deter predators. This ink is colored dark red like blood, making it a gross-out factor for anything thinking of eating the slug. A few of them are also poisonous to dogs and fish, just in case the ink is not enough of a deterrent. A. vaccia does not have this ink; the A. californica above clearly does.

Sea hares are the largest gastropods in the world. Looking just at our two model species, A. californica can get some 30 inches (75 cm) from head to rear when fully extended. A. vaccia has topped at 99 centimeters, again when fully extended, and has been recorded at 14 kilos - that's more than 20 pounds in U.S. measurements and quite a lot of escargot.

Sea hares, specifically A. californica, are valuable model organisms in science. On the dissecting table, they have large, brightly-colored neurons that are easy for beginning students of neuroscience to pick out. Despite this simplicity, sea hares can be conditioned and taught simple tricks. The whole genome is being sequenced as we speak. It's just a tiny bit disturbing to know that some of the tricks in human cognition go all the way back to sea slugs, but at the same time, it's pretty cool.

Creature Feature: Giant Ghana Snail.

Normally, there is nothing remotely threatening about snails. Sure, they're slimy and have weird little antennae, but it's not like most snails would make good movie monsters. They have pretty shells and are too slow to be really intimidating. WALK FOR YOUR LIVES!



Actually, wait. That's...kinda terrifying, especially for a snail.

The giant Ghana snail, or, alternatively, giant tiger land snail, is exactly what its name says it is: a giant, terrestrial snail native to western Africa. It just so happens to sport a very attractive shell. It eats any number of plants. Very, very slowly. Luckily, they mean humans no harm.

How big is big? Since slugs are a bit hard to measure, scientists usually measure shell length/diameter. The largest shell ever found was roughly 30 cm long. Average length is around 18 centimeters. Use a converter if you like, but what you really need to know is this:




Did we mention that these are spreading around the world's humid regions? They make decent pets, but, if unleashed, can feed on over 500 different types of plants. They also breed like crazy. They are  frequently quarantined, but have not yet been established in the U.S. Florida is slowly developing a population, but they are not as big a problem as, say, Burmese pythons. India has it much worse; salting the snails is a daily occurrence.

The snails are, however, found almost solely in hot, humid areas - i.e. FLORIDA, the country's magnet for invasive species. French restaurants ought to be rejoicing. Everyone else...not so much.

"They Actually Eat That:" Escargot.

Humans really are omnivores. Pica (i.e. eating random stuff) aside, there is almost nothing that our stomachs cannot handle. Numerous zoo exhibits have pointed out that, despite the fact that we should be eating leaves with all the other Great Apes, we have evolved systems to work with meat as part of our diets. Screw pigs and goats; humans should be used as the classic "eats anything" animal.


If you watch the video of a goat eating a textbook on YT, the goat only takes a few pages before realizing that law texts do not even taste good.

This has been stated a million times and will never grow old: People eat what's around them. If there is a not-so-appetizing something around, chances are that we will try to eat it, no matter how poisonous it may be. (No doubt the toxicity of poison dart frogs was discovered the hard way.) We can do that; we're omnivores.

That means that we will even eat things that regularly feed on things that are already dead. Things like snails:



They Actually Eat That?!

And it's classy. Really, really classy. You probably know snail meat by the French name of "escargot," but many places eat land snails, from the U.S. to France to Laos and Vietnam. They rank up there with frogs in the category of "notorious French foods," despite their universal appeal.

The snails themselves are usually some species of the genus Helix (which in turn led to snail farming being called "heliciculture"). Eating snails goes back to the prehistoric days (hey, shells preserve well), proving that even ancient humans ate more different things than goats.


Helix pomatia, the Roman snail. Yes, the Romans loved snails, too.

Snails eat carrion, rotten plants, and leaves.  If just listening to some of those made you want to throw up, worry not; farmed escargot are fed grain and have all the toxins 'purged' out of them. Purging can consist of either feeding them grain like other livestock or, umm, starving them.



Escargot, like all molluscs, is low in fat and high in protein. This is, of course, barring any additions; usually, the sauce adds a couple hundred calories by itself. To get REALLY nutritious snails, one would probably have to boil and eat the poor snails oneself. (Also, avoid the canned snails at any cost; they supposedly taste TERRIBLE.) They provide a good "beginner's step" into 'weird' food regardless of their nutritional value.

(I will be giving these snails a try sometime in December-early January. Expect a video! Wish me luck on my THREE finals tomorrow, guys!)

Creature Feature: Spanish Dancer.

Did you know that you can get cold sores from stress? Well, you can, and I have two now. Enjoy this lava lamp in sea slug form while I collapse; I will be commuting a LOT in these next couple of weeks.



Soooo yeah, that's a Spanish Dancer (Hexabranchus sanguinus - what an awesome name!) is a carnivorous sea slug native to the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific Ocean. It is one of the largest nudibranchs around at over 40 cms long. Take out a ruler with centimeters and inches if you have to.

Besides floating around like it does above, it can move like a normal slug...but that swimming is so damn cool that nobody really cares. It was named, of course, due to its unique locomotion resembling a flamenco dancer's big, flowing skirt.

Night.

Creature Feature: Cone Snail.

Snails are on the list of "gross but innocuous" creatures that most people look at without a second thought. The French eat them, but most people overlook the array of amazing slugs, let alone amazing snails.

Snails made most of those awesome shells you can pick up at the ocean. Conches are snails; like oysters, they produce valuable pearls. Conches will probably get their own entry at some point, but for now...


The slug in there is quite pretty, too.

There are some snails that can actually kill you. No, they do not feed on human flesh like something out of a horror flick; their poison just so happens to affect fish and you.


It's a shame, 'cause these are some REALLY pretty shells!

The snails in the genus Conus, AKA cone snails, are all at least mildly venomous. They are easily recognized by their simple, fairly smooth shell with a giant point towards the tip. They eat fish, marine worms and even each other with one of the most awesome weapons possible: A poisonous harpoon in their shells.


The harpoon I knew about. The swallowing I did not. Holy carp!

Cone snail stings range from 'mildly irritating' to 'put you in the E.R.' The smaller species are generally safe; the larger ones can puncture wetsuits with their little harpoons and hit you with a nasty dose of tetrodotoxin.

Yeah, that poison again. You saw it in pufferfish and the blue-ringed octopus. It causes severe paralysis; if it reaches the lungs, a single shot is deadly. As always, some of the most lethal snails are in Australia.

There is no antivenin for this snail's venom, but pharmacists, being pharmacists, are messing with it anyways. Despite being scarred for one's remaining life, paralysis is generally one of the least painful ways to go out; pharmacists are interested in turning this deadly poison into a painkiller.

Oh, those crazy pharmacists. Surely there is no way this could go wrong.

Creature Feature: Sea Lizard/Blue Dragon.

Oh, crap. Not ANOTHER thing we have to fear from the ocean!

Actually, this one's relatively harmless. The sea lizard (Glaucus atlanticus) will not eat you unless you are a cnidarian or fellow slug. This creature is not to be a confused with lizard fish; the sea lizard in question here is a small, blue sea slug native to most of the world's oceans.

Sea slugs have been blessed with such a variety of shapes and colors that even perfectly sane people wonder what they're tripping on. For starters, all gastropods are hermaphrodites - they have male and female junk. If that was not trippy enough, name a color; sea slugs come in it. Name a type of locomotion; sea slugs can do it (or at least look like they're doing it). Name a land animal; it probably has a counterpart in sea slugs. All things said, they are AWESOME creatures that I am ashamed for not doing an entry or five on earlier. (I do not know HOW, but Pokemon managed to de-awesome them.)


DUDE I CAN TOUCH THE RAINBOW! IT SMELLS AWESOME!

These particular sea slugs have gills that look like feathery feet or fins alongside their bodies. They swim upside-down; the name 'gastropoda' means 'stomach-foot,' and this thing is walking on its back like something out of a horror movie 24/7.



Now, hold on a second...aren't colorful things usually poisonous? In this case, yes and no; many sea slugs, these guys included, gain toxic attributes from their food. G. atlanticus in particular feeds upon the stinging tentacles of the Portuguese Man o' War (Physalia physalis)- a cnidarian colony (not a jellyfish) known to be deadly to humans. The Glaucus is completely immune to its venom. Like in some caterpillars, the poison in the tentacles gets used for the sea slug's own defense.

Look, but think before you touch. Enjoy the acid.

(By the way, fun fact: The generic name for 'Glaucus' comes from the myth of Glaucus and Scylla. Look it up if you like; Circe's involved!)

Creature Feature: Sea Angel

(The video says it all.)

Many people do not immediately think "cute" whenever they see a slug. Sea angels (clade Gymnosomata), a type of shell-less marine snail, look adorable. They are found in frigid waters, also earning them the name "ice angel."

Instead of using a pseudopod to get around like most snails, their 'foot' has evolved into a pair of gelatinous wings. Aww.



Try and say no to those wings. That pudgy body. The reddish organs that resemble a heart. They look like something from a glass shop, only squishy.


If it's cute enough for Pokemon and Hello Kitty, it's cute enough for the rest of the world.

Then you see them eat. Yes, something this cute is a predator. It goes from a pixie to a Lovecraftian nightmare as soon as food (usually a sea snail) comes along. Check out Bogleech's page to see an animation! (Yeah, I admire Bogleech enough not to mooch from him.)

No wonder my friend's Manaphy kicked ass...