Japan announced new discoveries about strange snails

On October 3, researcher Masaki Hoso of the Japan Association for Scientific Encouragement announced a new discovery of strange snails in Okinawa, when they could shed their tails to escape predators.

Some animals, such as lizards, crabs and worms, can break off part of their body to escape the enemy, but this is the first time this defense mechanism has been detected in snails.

Mr. Hoso said he did not detect this defending action in snails living in an area without snakes. He believes that this is a particularly evolving case from the instinctive need to deal with snakes.

Satsuma caliginosa snails can break their tail when they meet snakes.

Mr. Hoso investigated the survival rate of the snail named Isshikimaimai (Latin name Satsuma caliginosa ) found in Yaeyama, Ishigaki and Iriomote, when they were placed in the place where the Iwasaki snake specialized in eating. snail. Results showed that about 60% of snails survived, and about 45% cut their tails themselves when they were bitten by snakes before hiding themselves in the shell. The broken part then regains itself.

For comparison, Mr. Hoso conducted a similar experiment with snails found on Yonaguni Island, about 120km from Iwasaki and where no snails eat snails. As a result, nearly all of these snails were eaten by snakes.

The study also found that tail-docking action was more common in young snails with less developed shells and less in adults. Mr Hoso believes the snail's self-defense mechanism will shift to rely on their shell when the shell is hard.

Satoshi Chiba, a professor of evolutionary ecology at the University of Tohoku, said scientists had not previously studied lizard-like mechanisms in snails because they thought the shell had been told. protect them. So this is a very interesting and meaningful study. It shows the characteristics of animals that cut off part of their bodies to evade enemies that have been developed from special conditions, in which snails self-evolve to deal with predators.

Reference: Livescience