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Great Pond Snail

Lymnaea stagnalis (Linnaeus 1758)

Biology

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This species feeds on both plant and animal matter with a rasping tongue known as a radula, which can leave distinctive feeding marks behind (7). It can even attack newts, small fishes, and water beetle larvae and may occasionally be cannibalistic, eating smaller great pond snails (3). It lays large gelatinous egg-masses on weeds and other objects in the pond (6). These egg masses measure between 5 and 6 cm in length (5), and can contain as many as 50-120 eggs (6). The size to which a specimen will grow is dependent upon the volume of water in the pond; individuals grow larger in big ponds. Young specimens are slender and have more translucent shells than mature snails (6). Great pond snails often come to the surface to take in air into a respiratory cavity. When the pond becomes covered in ice, or when the snails move to deeper water in winter, they are able to take in oxygen from the water through the skin. The wide tentacles play a key role in the intake of oxygen; the surface of the tentacles is covered in tiny hair-like structures known as 'cilia' which function to increase their surface area, thus increasing the intake of air (4).
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Conservation

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No conservation action has been targeted at this species.
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Description

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This species is the largest pond snail in Britain (1). It has a shiny yellowish brown shell, with a tall, slender and pointed spire (2). The shell walls are delicate and fairly transparent; they have fine markings, more prominent growth lines and variable dents on the surface (2). This snail's body is yellowish grey in colour, with a large head and long, flattened tentacles (3).
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Habitat

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Found in still or slow-moving waters where there is plenty of aquatic vegetation (2). As the specific part of the Latin name, stagnalis suggests, this species prefers stagnant water (6).
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Range

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This pond snail is common in England but becomes scarce in Wales and Scotland. The distribution may be affected by the introduction of this species to garden ponds (1). Elsewhere, it is found throughout Europe, northern Asia and North America (2).
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Status

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Common and widespread in England, scarce in Scotland and Wales (2).
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Threats

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Not currently threatened.
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Brief Summary

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Great pond snails have lungs and need to surface regularly and take a breath. They eat just about anything they run into, even their own excrement. That sounds disgusting, but it means that they only waste 15% of what they eat. A pig wastes 6 times as much with its excrement! Pond snails are both male and female simultaneously and mate with another snail or with itself. The chains of eggs are attached to the underside of drifting leaves. After 10 days, the small snails hatch.
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Lymnaea stagnalis

provided by wikipedia EN

Lymnaea stagnalis, better known as the great pond snail, is a species of large air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae. The great pond snail is a model organism to study parasitology, neurology, embryonal development and genetic regulation.[3]

Limnaea stagnalis var. baltica Lindström, 1868: synonym of Lymnaea stagnalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Distribution

The distribution of this species is holarctic, mainly the temperate zones of Northern America, Europe and Asia. The snail can be found in many ponds, lakes and very slow-moving rivers with a rich underwater vegetation. The northernmost populations exist in northern Norway, and in Central Europe, it inhabits even montane ecosystems at 1700 meters above sea level. In the Saprobiensystem used in Germany to judge the quality of freshwater biotopes, the species has a value of 1.9 and indicates a biotope with a water quality class II, the second-highest.[4]

Shell

For the terms used in this section, see gastropod shell. The shells vary from light brown to dark brown, and the height of an adult shell ranges from 45 to 60 millimeters. Rarely, snails with a 70 mm shell can be found. The width of an adult shell ranges from 20 to 30 mm.

The shell has 4.5 to 6 weakly convex whorls. The upper whorls are pointed, while the last whorl is suddenly inflated. Young great pond snails can be confused with those of the genus Physa, and rarely, in cases of irregularly grown shells, great pond snails can be mixed up with Radix peregra — though adults of the latter species are a lot smaller, with shell heights of only 12 to 20 millimeters.

Nervous system

The dissected central ring ganglia of Lymnaea stagnalis. Scale bar is 1 mm.
LBuG and RBuG: left and right buccal ganglia
LCeG and RCeG: left and right cerebral ganglia
LPeG and RPeG: left and right pedal ganglia
LPIG and RPIG: left and right pleural ganglia
LPaG and RPaG: left and right parietal ganglia
VG: visceral ganglion.

Lymnaea stagnalis is widely used for the study of learning, memory and neurobiology.[5]

Lymnaea stagnalis has a relatively simple central nervous system (CNS) consisting of a total of ~20,000 neurons, many of them individually identifiable, organized in a ring of interconnected ganglia. Most neurons of the Lymnaea stagnalis central nervous system are large in size (diameter: up to ~100 μm), thus allowing electrophysiological dissection of neuronal networks that has yielded profound insights in the working mechanisms of neuronal networks controlling relatively simple behaviors such as feeding, respiration, locomotion, and reproduction. Studies using the central nervous system of Lymnaea stagnalis as a model organism have also identified novel cellular and molecular mechanisms in neuronal regeneration, synapse formation, synaptic plasticity, learning and memory formation, the neurobiology of development and aging, the modulatory role of neuropeptides, and adaptive responses to hypoxic stress.[5]

Lymnaea stagnalis in typical mating position of this species. The top snail is performing the male role (sperm donor), its white preputium (penis-carrying organ, Pp) can be seen inserted under the shell of the sperm recipient, where the female opening is located. During insemination, sperm (from the seminal vesicles) and seminal fluids (from the prostate gland) are transferred. Since these are simultaneous hermaphrodites, sexual roles can be swapped immediately afterwards.[6]

Life cycle

Eggs of Lymnaea stagnalis

Lymnaea stagnalis is a simultaneously hermaphroditic species and can mate in the male and female role, but within one copulation only one sexual role is performed at a time.[7] Lymnaea stagnalis perform more inseminations in larger groups and prefer to inseminate novel over familiar partners. Such higher motivation to copulate when a new partner is encountered is known as the Coolidge effect and has been demonstrated in hermaphrodites firstly in 2007.[7]

Parasites

Lymnaea stagnalis is an intermediate host for:

Other parasites of Lymnaea stagnalis include:

Lymnaea stagnalis has been experimentally infected with Elaphostrongylus rangiferi.[11]

As aquarium pets

Lymnaea stagnalis snails can be easily be kept in a freshwater aquarium at room temperature, and fed with various sorts of vegetables, salad, cabbage and dandelion leaves. Fish food will also be eaten, as well as aquarium pests like algae, the Hydra viridissima polyp, and the eggs of other water snails.

Due to the development of toxic nitrates, leftover food must be removed in time, and the water exchanged often. Using a water conditioner is also recommended. Depending on water hardness, a piece of cuttlebone must be offered to cover the snails' calcium needs.

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from references[5][7] and CC-BY-2.5 text from the reference[6]

  1. ^ Seddon, M.B.; Van Damme, D.; Cordeiro, J. (2017). "Lymnaea stagnalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T155475A42428297. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T155475A42428297.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Linnaeus C. (1758) Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. 10th edition. Vermes. Testacea: 700–781. Holmiae. (Salvius).
  3. ^ Kuroda, Reiko; Abe, Masanori (2020). "The pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis". EvoDevo. 11 (1): 24. doi:10.1186/s13227-020-00169-4. PMC 7716593. PMID 33292457.
  4. ^ Strictly speaking, the Saprobiensystem looks at the ability of a biotope to self-regulate its organic matter content under aerobic conditions.
  5. ^ a b c Feng Z-P., Zhang Z., Kesteren R. E. van, Straub V. A., Nierop P. van, Jin K., Nejatbakhsh N., Goldberg J. I., Spencer G. E., Yeoman M. S., Wildering W., Coorssen J. R., Croll R. P., Buck L. T., Syed N. I. & Smit A. B. (23 September 2009) "Transcriptome analysis of the central nervous system of the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis". BMC Genomics 10: 451. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-451
  6. ^ a b Koene J. M., Sloot W., Montagne-Wajer K., Cummins S. F., Degnan B. M., Smith J. S., Nagle G. T. & Maat A. ter (2010). "Male Accessory Gland Protein Reduces Egg Laying in a Simultaneous Hermaphrodite". PLoS ONE 5(4): e10117. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010117.
  7. ^ a b c Koene J. M. & Maat A. T. (6 November 2007) "Coolidge effect in pond snails: male motivation in a simultaneous hermaphrodite". BMC Evolutionary Biology 7: 212. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-212
  8. ^ Kudlai O. S. (2009). "The discovery of the intermediate host for the trematode Moliniella anceps (Trematoda, Echinostomatidae) in Ukraine". Vestnik zoologii 43(4): e-11–e-13. doi:10.2478/v10058-009-0014-x.
  9. ^ Leicht K. & Seppälä O. (2014). "Infection success of Echinoparyphium aconiatum (Trematoda) in its snail host under high temperature: role of host resistance". Parasites & Vectors 7:192. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-7-192.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Soldanova M., Selbach C., Sures B., Kostadinova A. & Perez-del-Olmo A. (2010). "Larval trematode communities in Radix auricularia and Lymnaea stagnalis in a reservoir system of the Ruhr River". Parasites & Vectors 2010, 3: 56. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-3-56.
  11. ^ Skorping A. (1985). "Lymnea stagnalis as experimental intermediate host for Elaphostrongylus rangiferi". Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde 71: 265–270.

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Lymnaea stagnalis: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

Lymnaea stagnalis, better known as the great pond snail, is a species of large air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Lymnaeidae. The great pond snail is a model organism to study parasitology, neurology, embryonal development and genetic regulation.

Limnaea stagnalis var. baltica Lindström, 1868: synonym of Lymnaea stagnalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

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