Saturday, April 25, 2015

Why is it

... that when the tide goes out, all the sensible little beasties head for deeper water, or bury themselves in the sand, or hide under stones and logs; anything to keep from drying out. Except the Asian mud snails; they look for places to sunbathe, high and dry.

On stones,

On logs.

Note the tidepool in front of the log; very few snails remain there, and they're scrambling for the edge. Behind the log, on higher ground, the snails are so thick that in places they hide the stones.

They do the same thing in my aquarium; they spend at least half their time clinging to the walls above the water level, and sometimes leave the tank and go for walkies on the counter. Sometimes I find one behind the tank, dry as dust, completely sealed in, looking dead. I drop him back in the water, and he wakes up - and heads for the top again.

They don't eat out of the water; just sleep.

Why?

2 comments:

  1. My first thought was oxygen, but that doesn't explain why your tank snails do the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Actually, oxygen seems to make sense. If their anatomy allows them to extract oxygen from air, anyhow. I'll have to look into that.

    ReplyDelete

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