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Scaly-foot gastropod

 
Wikipedia: Scaly-foot gastropod
Scaly-foot gastropod

Preserved specimen of Crysomallon squamiferum.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Vetigastropoda
Superfamily: Neomphaloidea
Family: Neomphalidae
Genus: Crysomallon
Species: C. squamiferum
Binomial name
Crysomallon squamiferum
Van Dover et al., 2001[1]

Crysomallon squamiferum, common name the scaly-foot gastropod, is a species of sea snail, a deepwater marine gastropod mollusk in the family Neomphalidae.[citation needed]

Contents

Habitat

This species was discovered in 2001 on the bases of black smokers at the Kairei hydrothermal vent field, on the Central Indian Ridge, just north of the Rodrigues Triple Point; about 2420 meters below the surface.

Description

The snail's foot is armored with iron-mineral scales. It is protected by scale-shaped sclerites composed of the iron sulfides[2] greigite and pyrite.[3] No other animal is known to use iron sulfides in this way.

References

  1. ^ Van Dover CL, Humphris SE, Fornari D, Cavanaugh CM, Collier R, Goffredi SK, Hashimoto J, Lilley MD, Reysenbach AL, Shank TM, Von Damm KL, Banta A, Gallant RM, Gotz D, Green D, Hall J, Harmer TL, Hurtado LA, Johnson P, McKiness ZP, Meredith C, Olson E, Pan IL, Turnipseed M, Won Y, Young CR 3rd, Vrijenhoek RC (2001). "Biogeography and ecological setting of Indian Ocean hydrothermal vents". Science 294 (5543): 818–23. doi:10.1126/science.1064574. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/294/5543/818.  PMID 11557843
  2. ^ Warén A, Bengtson S, Goffredi SK, Van Dover CL (2003). "A hot-vent gastropod with iron sulfide dermal sclerites". Science 302 (5647): 1007. doi:10.1126/science.1087696. http://www.scienceonline.org/cgi/content/full/302/5647/1007.  PMID 14605361
  3. ^ Pickrell, John (2003-11-07). "Armor-Plated Snail Discovered in Deep Sea". National Geographic News. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1107_031107_snailarmor.html. 

Further reading

External links


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