Tumbling Creek cavesnail facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tumbling Creek cavesnail |
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| A live individual of Antrobia culveri | |
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The Tumbling Creek cavesnail (Antrobia culveri) is a tiny, special type of freshwater snail. It lives only in caves and has gills, which help it breathe underwater. This snail is an aquatic gastropod, which means it's a type of mollusk that moves on a "foot" and lives in water. It belongs to the family Amnicolidae.
This snail is the only species in its group, called Antrobia. It is an endangered species, meaning it's at high risk of disappearing forever. Its name comes from Tumbling Creek Cave in Taney County, Missouri, USA, where it was first discovered.
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Discovering the Tumbling Creek Cavesnail
The Tumbling Creek cavesnail was first described in 1971 by a scientist named Leslie Hubricht. He found specimens (samples) of the snail in 1969 and 1970. The snail was named Antrobia culveri to honor David Culver, one of the people who helped collect the first samples.
Antrobia is also the name of the snail's genus, which is a scientific group of closely related species. The Tumbling Creek cavesnail is the only species in this genus.
What Does It Look Like?
The Tumbling Creek cavesnail is a very small snail. It is white and cannot see, as it is blind. This is common for animals that live in dark caves.
Its shell is small and shaped like a cone. It is pale yellow and has about 3.5 whorls, which are the turns or spirals of the shell. The first snail found was about 2.3 millimeters (0.09 inches) tall. That's smaller than a grain of rice!
Where Does It Live?
The Tumbling Creek cavesnail is an endemic species. This means it lives only in one specific place and nowhere else in the world. It is part of the wildlife of Missouri, United States.
This snail lives only in a single cave stream inside Tumbling Creek Cave. This cave is located in Taney County, in the southwestern part of Missouri.
Its Cave Home
Habitat
This snail is a true cave dweller, also known as a troglobite. Since it lives in water inside the cave, it's called an aquatic troglobite, or a stygofauna.
The Tumbling Creek cavesnail likes to live on the bottom of rocks in parts of Tumbling Creek. It prefers areas where there isn't much silt (fine dirt). You can usually find them on the underside of rocks and gravel.
Sadly, observations from 2001 showed that these snails now live in a much smaller area of the stream. They are found in only about 23 meters (75 feet) of stream habitat. This is only about 5 percent of the area they used to live in. Animals like the Tumbling Creek cavesnail, which spend their whole lives in underground water, are very sensitive. They are easily harmed by changes in water quality or how much water is available.
Feeding Habits
Scientists don't know a lot about how this cave snail lives. However, they believe it eats tiny living things in the water. This includes a thin layer of bacteria called "biofilm" that grows on surfaces.
Tumbling Creek cavesnails are often found near large piles of bat guano (bat droppings). This suggests that the snails might depend on these bat droppings for their food, perhaps indirectly. The guano could be a source of nutrients for the tiny organisms the snails eat.
Life Cycle
Many parts of this snail's life, including how it reproduces, are still a mystery to scientists.
Protecting the Cavesnail
The number of Tumbling Creek cavesnails has dropped a lot over the years. In 1973, there were an estimated 15,118 snails. But between 2001 and 2003, only one snail was found in the main survey areas.
However, a small group of about 40 snails does exist in a different part of the creek, upstream from where scientists usually look. Because of this big decline, the Tumbling Creek cavesnail was listed as an endangered species. This happened on August 14, 2002, by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species.
Scientists think the main reason for the snail's decline is poor water quality. This is likely due to more erosion and water pollution entering the cave. More research is needed to confirm this idea and help protect these unique snails.
See also
- Antrobia breweri is a synonym (another name) for Antrorbis breweri.
