Common watt snail
| Common watt snail | ||||||||||
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Shell of the common watt snail ( Peringia ulvae ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Peringia ulvae | ||||||||||
| Pennant , 1777 |
The common watt snail ( Peringia ulvae , syn .: Hydrobia ulvae ) is a species of snail from the genus Peringia in the family of the water snail (Hydrobiidae).
features
The case is right-hand wound and is up to 9 mm high. It has seven whorls with only slightly curved flanks. The seam is relatively flat and the navel is narrow. The opening is oval, slightly pointed at the top and has a sharp edge.
Occurrence, distribution and way of life
The common wadden snail lives in the wadden seas of the North and western Baltic Sea , but also on the coasts of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean . In the south, the distribution area extends to Senegal. It occurs there in very large populations on sandy soils, less often on algae or in the living tubes of animals living on the ground, where they eat green algae ( Ulva lactuca ; name!), Diatoms and bacteria. Up to 50,000 watt snails can live on one square meter of watt.
Mud flats show a behavior that depends on the change in tides . When the tide comes in, the snails attach themselves to the surface of the water with their feet upwards, allow themselves to be drifted and form a band of slime to which their food sticks. When the tide starts to fall, they drop and lie on the sand until they are on dry land. Then a second phase of foraging begins, this time from the sandy subsoil. After a while they dig themselves into the sand and wait for the tide.
Because of their abundance, a great deal of excrement and slime is produced, which clog the sand. As a result, it cannot be transported away as easily by the current. In addition, the deposition of new sand on the sticky base is promoted.
literature
- Rainer Willmann: Mussels and snails of the North and Baltic Seas. Neumann, Neudamm 1989, ISBN 3-7888-0555-2 .
- WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species, accessed November 11, 2013.
