The world’s deepest snail?Critters that live in caves often lose their energy intensive pigmen
The world’s deepest snail?Critters that live in caves often lose their energy intensive pigmentation and eyes after some generations in such a low energy ecosystem without much primary production at the base of the food chain to sustain much in the way of complex life. This here gastropod is a fine transparent example, discovered in 2010 in the depths of the Lukina Jama-Trojama caves of western Croatia.The land snail is called Zospeum tholussum and lives in total darkness between 743 and 1,392 m in this deep cave carved by acidic rainwater and underground rivers in the limestone that used to form the Tethys sea floor before the collisions of Africa and India with Eurasia thrust it up into hills and mountains. They are small, with the shells measuring roughly 1 by 2 mm. This sweet critter was only named and described taxonomically last year, and was selected a couple of months back as one included in the list of the Top 10 New Species of 2014 announced by the International Institute for Species Exploration.This cave system is 1,431 metres deep, the 14th in the world, with a large vertical drop involved in reaching the bottom. The pools below host a strange underground ecosystem that also includes profound leeches. The snails live in muddy habitats near the drainage system and its running water, which may be their means of dispersal. The cave has three distinct ecosystem layers, warming as they deepen.LozImage credit: Jana Bedek/PAhttp://www.academia.edu/4131812/Physical_research_in_Croatias_deepest_cave_system_Lukina_jama-Trojama_Mt._Velebithttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130910104946.htmhttp://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-snail-semi-transparent-shell-croatia-01381.html -- source link
#zospeum tholussum#science#biology#croatia#lukina jamatrojama#animal#wildlife#pigment#ecosystem#gastropod