Urosalpinx cinerea
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Urosalpinx cinerea |
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| Urosalpinx cinerea | ||||||||||||
| ( Say , 1822) |
Urosalpinx cinerea is a snail from the family of spiny snails (Muricidae), which feeds mainly on mussels , including oysters , and barnacles . From its original area of distribution, the Atlantic coast of New England , it was transported with the oysters to the North Sea ,among other places. Like some other snails with similar eating habits, it is also called the oyster borer .
features
The yellowish gray snail shell of Urosalpinx cinerea , which in fully grown snails does not exceed 2.5 cm in length, is, like all Urosalpinx species, elongated oval, longitudinally ribbed and striped in a spiral direction, without varices and has an oval housing mouth that joins one only short, open siphon channel runs out and the outer lip is serrated. The house of this type has a massive thread with strong, bulging folds on its coils. The semi-heart-shaped, yellow-brown to orange-colored operculum is horny with a lateral nucleus located slightly below the middle. The very small foot has a yellowish edge and is mottled gray on top. The small head out enough during active animal bit so that the black eyes are just visible on the sensor base, and Sipho goes just over the outcome of the Siphonalkanals.
distribution
The original range of Urosalpinx cinerea is the Atlantic coast of North America between Nova Scotia and Florida . The import of North American oyster spawns as part of the expansion of commercial oyster farming brought the snail into the North Sea and the Pacific coast of North America between California and Washington .
habitat
Urosalpinx cinerea lives in the intertidal zone and below on rocks and oyster reefs to a depth of 15 m.
Life cycle
Like other spiny snails, Urosalpinx cinerea is sexually separate. The male mates with the female with his penis . In the period from April to June, the female attaches her egg clutches to solid substrate over a period of about 7 days, which z. B. rocks, concrete blocks, cans or housings of molluscs. An egg capsule contains an average of about 9 eggs, of which an average of about 5 develop. The development of the Veliger up to the metamorphosis to the finished snail takes place completely in the egg capsules. The times measured from oviposition to hatching of the young animals from the capsules at water temperatures between 13.5 and 32 ° C were 18 to 56 days. Freshly hatched snails have shell lengths of around 1 to 3 mm. Young animals observed in Noank ( Connecticut ) first eat bog animals , especially Cryptosula pallasina , and only later switch to eating barnacles of the species Balanus balanoides , which are the main prey of the snail in the area. In the first few months, the snails grow about 2.5 mm per month. Females are slightly larger than males. At one year of age, the shells of males measured in Great Britain are about 1 to 1.8 cm, those of females about 2 cm, in two-year-old snails it is 1.8 to 2.3 or 2.5 cm, in ten-year-old 3 , 6 and 3.9 cm. The snails are about 10 years old, occasionally 13 to 14 years old. The sexual maturity is reached at a cm aged 1 to 3 years and a body length of 1.3 to 2.4.
food
Urosalpinx cinerea mainly eats mussels and barnacles , to a lesser extent snails , small crustaceans , bog animals and carrion . In the shell of the prey a hole is drilled with the radula under the action of acid and then the proboscis of the snail is guided through the hole to the meat. In feeding experiments with four preferred types of prey, the snails grew fastest when they ate sand clams ( Mya arenaria ), followed by a diet of American oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) and then barnacles ( Balanus sp.). The snails grew the slowest when fed on the mussel Mytilus edulis . In Noank, barnacles of the species Balanus balanoides are the main prey in the intertidal zone , but in deeper areas where there are fewer barnacles, it is mainly large periwinkles ( Littorina littorea ) that are eaten, and sometimes a periwinkle is attacked by several spiny snails at the same time.
Importance to humans
As a major predator of oysters , Urosalpinx cinerea is feared in commercial oyster farming. Through this it was introduced with oyster spawn from the North American Atlantic coast into the North Sea ( Thames estuary in England , Netherlands ). Like other spiny snails, however, Urosalpinx cinerea is also affected by water pollution by tributyltin , which leads to imposex in snails .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b David R. Franz: Population age structure, growth and longevity of the marine gastropod Urosalpinx cinerea Say . In: Biological Bulletin . tape 140 , February 1971, p. 63-72 ( PDF ).
- ↑ JB Engle: Growth of the oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea (Say), feeding on four different food animals. In: Anatomical Record. 84, 1942, p. 505 (abstract).
- ^ PE Gibbs, BE Spencer, PL Pascoe: The American Oyster Drill, Urosalpinx Cinerea (Gastropoda): Evidence Of Decline in an Imposex-Affected Population (R. Blackwater, Essex) . In: Journal of the Marine Biological Association . tape 71 , no. 4 , November 1991, pp. 827-838 , doi : 10.1017 / S0025315400053480 .
- ↑ Marco Faasse, Marianne Ligthart (2007): The American oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea (Say, 1822), introduced to The Netherlands - increased risks after ban on TBT? . (PDF; 104 kB). In: Aquatic Invasions. 2 (4), pp. 402-406.
literature
- Julia Ellen Rogers: The Shell Book. Doubleday, Page & Company, New York 1908, archive.org , p. 38 f .: Chapter III: The oyster drill. Urosalpinx cinerea Say, Family Muricidae, Genus Urosalpinx, Stimps.
- GE Radwin, A. D'Attilio: Murex shells of the world. An illustrated guide to the Muricidae. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford 1976, ISBN 978-0-8047-0897-5 , x + pp. 1-284 incl 192 figs. + 32 pls. Urosalpinx cinerea. P. 136.
- Melbourne Romaine Carriker: Critical review of biology and control of oyster drills Urosalpinx and Eupleura. US Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Special Scientific Report - Fisheries, No. 148, Washington DC 1955. (on archive.org ; PDF; 8.3 MB).
- Stefanie M. Gera: Egg Capsule Hatching Success in Rapana venosa and Urosalpinx cinerea in Relation to Temperature and Salinity . (PDF; 4.1 MB). Thesis, Faculty of the School of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary in Virginia, 2009.
