Study reveals #ToolUse in tropical #fish species https://phys.org/news/2025-03-reveals-tool-tropical-fish-species.html
Tool use by New World Halichoeres wrasses https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-025-02633-w
"#Wrasses use hard surfaces, also called 'anvils,' to crack open hard-shelled prey such as #crabs and #mollusks... researchers gathered 16 new observations across five species of #Halichoeres wrasses... suggest the behavior is far more common than previously thought."
#Snails are primarily marine #mollusks. According to current hypotheses, the #sistergroup might be #Cephalopoda plus #Scaphopoda (Link below) . One #Apomorphy, i.e. evolutionary new acquisitions of the stemspecies, is the #asymmetrical #shell that is wound in one direction, which is due to a #torsion of the #mantle and visceral sac.
The species in my #photos is #Cornu #aspersum from Italy. #biodiversity,
© #StefanFWirth Berlin 2025
Reference
Sumner-Rooney et al. (2015):
https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fede.12164
#Cuttlefish adjust their shape and color to suit conditions when seeking prey
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-cuttlefish-adjust-conditions-prey.html
Multiple hunting displays in wild broadclub cuttlefish https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70021
"the #mollusks had four main types of displays they used to camouflage themselves as they approached prey"
Clausilia bidentata (Common Door-snail)
Observed on 2024-02-17
By: creaturefeature97
Location: 06 Ballenstedt-Rieder, Germany
iNaturalist link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/230484509
Photo credits: no rights reserved
Learn more about the taxon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausilia_bidentata
@CarveHerName I was just thinking of the people at hashtags like #Mollusca #mollusks #snail and #snails . Nothing like making the connection to art AND politics to liven up our snail content here.
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"
Iridescent Ammonite on Matrix. Placenticeras costatum is a species of ammonite, an extinct group of cephalopod mollusks that lived during the Mesozoic Era. Late Cretaceous (approx. 71 million years ago). Bearpaw Formation, Alberta, Canada. #fossils #science #biology #evolution #science #mollusks #photo #nature
'Extinct' #snails found breeding in French Polynesia following a successful reintroduction project https://phys.org/news/2024-09-extinct-snails-french-polynesia-successful.html
"A species of tropical tree #snail is no longer #extinct in the wild following a successful #reintroduction project... for the first time in 40 years, #conservationists have found born-in-the-wild adult Partula tohiveana—meaning the precious #mollusks have successfully established themselves in #FrenchPolynesia."
Letting the dude cross the road!
This brother was gliding away at warp speed 
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Researchers uncover 500 million-year-old #mollusk ancestor https://phys.org/news/2024-08-uncover-million-year-mollusk-ancestor.html
A #Cambrian spiny stem mollusk and the deep homology of lophotrochozoan scleritomes https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado0059
The new #fossil, called Shishania aculeata, reveals that the most primitive #mollusks were flat, shell-less slugs covered in a protective spiny armor.
Some animals get a head start on becoming fossils! #FossilFriday #paleontology #fossil #scicomm #mollusks
