Cerithideopsis californica

Cerithideopsis californica
A shell of Cerithideopsis californica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Sorbeoconcha
Superfamily: Cerithioidea
Family: Potamididae
Genus: Cerithideopsis
Species: C. californica
Binomial name
Cerithideopsis californica
(Haldeman, 1840)[1]
Synonyms
  • Cerithium (Potamis) californicum Haldeman, 1840 (original combination)
  • Cerithidea albonodosa Gould & Carpenter, 1857
  • Cerithidea californica (Haldeman, 1840)
  • Cerithidea fuscata Gould, 1857
  • Cerithidea mazatlanica (H. F. Carpenter, 1857)
  • Cerithidea pullata A. A. Gould, 1856
  • Cerithidea valida (C. B. Adams, 1852)

Cerithideopsis 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.[4] This series was previously known as Cerithidea californica.

Distribution

The distribution of Cerithideopsis californica is from central California, USA to Baja California Sur, Mexico.[3]

The type locality is "California, in brackish water".[1]

Description

The shape of the shell is turriform and is about 1 inch (25 mm) in length.[1]

Ecology

Cerithideopsis 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]

California horn snails are common in the Morro Bay estuary of California

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference[3]

  1. 1 2 3 Haldeman S. S. (1840). A monograph of the Limniades and other freshwater univalve shells of North America. number 1, Philadelphia, J. Dobson. an unnumbered page.
  2. "Cerithidea californica (Haldeman, 1840)". ITIS, accessed 10 February 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hechinger R. F. (2010). "Mortality affects adaptive allocation to growth and reproduction: field evidence from a guild of body snatchers". BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 136. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-136.
  4. Bouchet, P. (2014). Cerithideopsis californica (Haldeman, 1840). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=758597 on 2014-03-20

Further reading

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