| Cerithidea californica | |
|---|---|
| A shell of Cerithidea californica | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Caenogastropoda clade Sorbeoconcha |
| Superfamily: | Cerithioidea |
| Family: | Potamididae |
| Genus: | Cerithidea |
| Species: | C. californica |
| Binomial name | |
| Cerithidea californica (Haldeman, 1840)[1] |
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| Synonyms | |
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Cerithidea californica, common name the California hornsnail[2] or the California horn snail,[3] is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Potamididae.
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The distribution of Cerithidea californica is from central California, USA to Baja California Sur, Mexico.[3]
The type locality is "California, in brackish water".[1]
The shape of the shell is turriform and is about 1 inch in length.[1]
Cerithidea californica lives in salt-marsh dominated estuaries.[3]
The snails primarily feed on benthic diatoms.[3]
Throughout its range in California, these snails grow and reproduce from spring through fall (March-October) and cease growth and reproduction during the winter (November-February).[3] Maximum longevity for these snails is at least 6-10 years, and this appears to be the case for uninfected as well as infected snails.[3]
At least 18 trematode species parasitically castrate California horn snails.[3] A trematode infects a snail with a miracidium larva that either swims to infect the snail, or hatches after the snail ingests the trematode egg.[3] After infection, the trematode parthenitae clonally replicate and produce free-swimming offspring (cercariae).[3] These offspring infect second intermediate hosts (various invertebrates and fishes) where they form cysts (metacercariae).[3] The trematodes infect bird final hosts when birds eat second intermediate hosts.[3]
This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference[3]