Today I went to see the rarest snails in the world. These critically endangered mollusks exist only in a little pond in Banff. Since it's a sulphur hot spring, the whole area smells of snail farts.
In other news, I sold another poem.
https://bowvalleynaturalists.org/natural-history/snails/ #snail #CriticallyEndangered #SpeciesAtRisk #molluscs #mollusk #FreshwaterSnail #WildlifePhotography #PoetryCommunity
I totally forgot @KateShaw released new episode today, and I just found out it's about cephalopods ... the other other cephalopods.
https://strangeanimalspodcast.blubrry.net/2025/04/07/episode-427-the-other-cephalopods/
listening now.
#BiologicalInvasions expert Prof. Franz Essl from Austria gave a seminar today at #LincolnUniversityNZ. He showed a study of the global distribution of slugs and snails. Natives show distinct biogeographic regions. Australasian snails were different from African snails which were different from South American snails. Yet, naturalised snails (moved around the world by people) were just temperate and tropical. We are dramatically simplifying the natural world by moving species about. #molluscs
A Violet Snail (Janthina sp.) preying on a By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella)
"Functional mapping of the molluscan brain guided by synchrotron X-ray tomography", Crossley et al. 2025
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40014565/
You have a nose as well.
These speakers are designed to get right up it.
Whereas the Chinesium ones only do both ears and one nostril, which will not have that fully shafted audiophile feel.
One has to look out for these cheap cost-cutting tricks, otherwise one might end up with a plain old chamberless snail shell and not a nautilus at all, from a less reputable manufacturer.
“More than 1,300 tiny snails reintroduced to remote Atlantic island
The Desertas Island land snails have been set free to roam on the uninhabited island of Bugio, near Madeira”
#Molluscs #Gastropods #Madeira #Desertas #Discula #Geomitra
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/28/more-than-1300-tiny-snails-reintroduced-to-remote-atlantic-island
@mads The animal that most blew my mind when I found out about it was the sea swallow.
I'm not sure how I'd not heard about these before.
Just look at it!
They float upside-down under the surface of the open ocean, scooting about looking for food. They eat things like Portuguese man o' war and steal the stinging nematocysts to use for their own defense.
And, they're just crazy-levels of elegant.
Shells - leave them by the shore
"This summer, please leave the sea shells by the seashore. Someone needs that shell more than you. For native wildlife, both occupied and unoccupied shells provide important shelter and sources of calcium and grit."
"If you absolutely must pick something up and take it home, please pick up some of the vast amount of plastic found on Australian beaches."
>>
https://theconversation.com/this-summer-please-leave-the-sea-shells-by-the-seashore-243157
#shells #seashells #collecting #beach #ecosystems #tourism #hoarding #BeachCombing #marine #wildlife #habitat #MarineParks #molluscs #shellfish #plastic #waste #TakeAway #HolidaySeason
Mollusc encounter, 330 million years later.
Part of the Cefn Mawr Limestone formation, Anglesey.
No better way to start the new #research year than with a new paper! Enjoy our review on #isotope #sclerochronology on #molluscs led by Andy Johnson! 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379124005705
What a #mollusc shell and fiber optic cables have in common https://www.npr.org/2024/11/23/nx-s1-5199634/heart-shaped-mollusc-shell-resembles-fiber-optic-cables
Heart cockle shells transmit sunlight to photosymbiotic algae using bundled fiber optic cables and condensing lenses: Dakota McCoy et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53110-x
"the structure of the #HeartCockle's shell operates as its own kind of fiber #OpticCables to channel light to the #algae living inside it"
@alcootatooter no no no that was superhelpful 
I really had no idea those #oceans creatures exist!! When I sat down after visiting the beach looking at those pretty tiny pieces, they were all around the washed up lobsters, and googling the images did not return anything, so I made an assumption and am very happy to learn what they actually are!! Now I will look out for the whole #mollusc :D they washed up on the beach with a flood of bluebottles, and seeing these #marine #molluscs are from QLD I guess the warmer water might have brought them along...
Mathematicians discover new class of shape seen throughout nature https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03099-6
Soft cells and the #geometry of #seashells https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/3/9/pgae311/7754698
"Soft cells — shapes with rounded corners and pointed tips that fit together on a plane — feature in onions, #molluscs and more... Studying the #nautilus was the turning point of the work"
Here is a fabulous snail! 
