Snail attacks pencil

Agaronia propatula, a voracious hunter, pounces on its prey (in this case a pencil), 'swallows' it into a pouch in its foot, then burrows into the sand where it can eat it undisturbed.

A recent study by Dr Winfried Peters and his team (Indiana/Purdue University at Fort Wayne, USA, and Goldring Marine Biology Station, Costa Rica) has revealed that these predatory snails are quite indiscriminate in their attacking behaviour. See "The behavioural and sensory ecology of Agaronia propatula (caenogastropoda: olividae), a swash-surfing predator on sandy beaches of the panamic faunal province" by Ariel Z. Cyrus, Samantha D. Rupert, Amy S. Silva, Monika Graf, Jeremy C. Rappaport, Frank V. Paladino1, and Winfried S. Peters in The Journal of Molluscan Studies (published by Oxford University Press on behalf of
The Malacological Society of London). http://mollus.oxfordjournals.org/cont...


(c) Winfried S Peters, Indiana/Purdue University Fort Wayne.
http://new.ipfw.edu/departments/coas/...

Used with permission.

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