Snail species 'wearing armor'

Researchers from the Swedish Museum of Natural History have discovered one of the world's most unusual snails. They had a hard iron layer clinging tightly to each other, forming a solid armor covering their bodies and the bottom of their feet.

New snails were discovered at the hydrothermal vents of the Indian Ocean. According to Anders Waren, the team leader discovered that this strange snail, the "tiny monster," is the first animal in the world to have "body made of" sulfur iron. When he used iron clamps to check the scales of the sea snail, they stuck to the clamp. As a result, he learned that the scales were made of iron and were magnetized. According to the team, the snail's "armor" helps them protect themselves against predators that live in the mouth. Before firm scales, snail-hunting snails by injecting venom into prey must also give up.

The team used a remote-controlled submarine to explore hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean. Hydrothermal vents are underwater pipes, dubbed the "black addicts" because they often spew out black water, hot to 400oC. Although the temperature is high, the water does not boil because the pressure on the seabed is very high, 250 times higher than on the sea surface. The water near the nozzle is cooler, bringing more minerals (making the water black), including ingredients that make up the "armor" of the sea snail.

For modern animals today, the body structure of this sea snail is really a strange "costume model". However, for many primitive animals, especially in the Cambrian period (540-500 million years ago), the scales are "fashionable". But genetic testing and anatomy results show that "armored" snails have a very close relationship with modern snails. This could make the imaginative people think of the appearance of a Roman warrior in a hat-trick on the bustling Ho Guom shore .

The scale component contains 2 sulfur iron minerals: pyrite and greigite. Because the sulfur structure is often unstable, we rarely see it on the organism. However, iron and sulfur compounds appear very much in mineral-rich waters at ecosystems with hydrothermal vents, so it is understandable why the snails here have scales of sulfur iron.

Callum Roberts, a mollusc researcher at the University of York (UK), said: "Hydrothermal vents are home to unique animal populations, helping us better understand the evolutionary process, adapt, and history of the original life on earth, this is a rich natural ecosystem that we need to be very caring and protective, as we once protected the national park on the face. land ".