Painted rocksnail facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Painted rocksnail |
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| Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis taeniata | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| (unranked): |
clade Caenogastropoda
clade Sorbeoconcha |
| Superfamily: |
Cerithioidea
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| Family: |
Pleuroceridae
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| Genus: |
Leptoxis
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| Species: |
L. taeniata
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| Binomial name | |
| Leptoxis taeniata Conrad, 1834
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The painted rocksnail (Leptoxis coosaensis) is a special kind of freshwater snail. It has gills to breathe underwater and a little "door" called an operculum that can close its shell opening. This snail is a type of mollusk found only in the fresh waters of Alabama, United States. Sadly, the painted rocksnail is considered a threatened species, meaning it's in danger of disappearing. It has been on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species since 1998.
Contents
About the Painted Rocksnail
The painted rocksnail is a small to medium-sized snail. Its shell is usually about 19 mm (0.8 in) long. The shell is often round or oval shaped. The opening of the shell, called the aperture, is wide and rounded.
The shell's color can be yellowish or olive-brown. It often has four dark stripes or bands. Some shells might not have these bands, or the bands might be broken into square or oblong patches.
Many different rocksnail species used to live in the Mobile Basin. They all had similar shell shapes and colors. The painted rocksnail is the only one of 15 species that still survives in the Coosa River area.
Where They Live
The painted rocksnail once lived in many places across the Mobile River Basin. It was found in the Coosa River and its smaller rivers, from St. Clair County, Alabama down to the Alabama River near Claiborne, Alabama. It also lived in the Cahaba River in Perry and Dallas counties.
Today, this snail is much harder to find. Scientists have only found three small groups of painted rocksnails. These groups live in the lower parts of three Coosa River tributaries:
- Choccolocco Creek in Talladega County, Alabama
- Buxahatchee Creek in Shelby County
- Ohatchee Creek in Calhoun County, Alabama
Why They Are Disappearing
The painted rocksnail has disappeared from more than 90 percent of the places it used to live. The main reason for this is the building of dams. Dams create large lakes or reservoirs. These reservoirs flood the snail's natural habitat.
Dams change the river environment in several ways:
- They stop or slow down the strong currents that rocksnails need.
- This allows dirt and mud to build up on the riverbed.
- The water chemistry can also change. For example, some reservoirs have too many nutrients, which can lead to low oxygen levels.
These changes make it hard for the snails to find food, breathe, and reproduce. This is why they have disappeared from all parts of their historic homes that are now covered by dammed waters.
Conservation Efforts
Organizations like the Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute (TNARI) are working to help the painted rocksnail. They have started raising painted rocksnails in special facilities. Plans were made to release these snails back into the wild to help their numbers grow.
Ecology
Habitat
Painted rocksnails are snails that breathe with gills. They like to attach themselves to rocks, gravel, or other hard surfaces. They prefer areas in rivers called "riffles" or "shoals." These are shallow parts of a streambed where the water flows quickly, creating ripples.
Life Cycle
Adult rocksnails do not move around very much. Female snails likely glue their eggs onto stones in the same fast-flowing areas where they live. We don't know exactly how long painted rocksnails live. However, a similar type of rocksnail in the Tennessee River was found to live for less than two years.
This article incorporates public domain text (a public domain work of the United States Government) from the reference.
Images for kids
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Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis taeniata from 1845 book by Jean-Charles Chenu.
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Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis taeniata
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Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis taeniata
