Showing posts with label siphon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label siphon. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2013

A Mystery Solved!!

At last I have solved the mystery of my snail's tentacle! I was just  doing some research when I came upon an article about it. It's called a siphon. Their purpose is to allow the snail to breathe air when submerged underwater. ...And I quote....
"Many species, particularly of the South-American genus Pomacea, have another another remarkable anatomical feathure: a breathing siphon. This organ, formed by a fold of the mantle cavity at the left side of the head, is barely visible when not in use. At times the snail needs to refresh the air inside the lung, the muscles in this fold contract and the fold changes into a flexible tube-like structure (siphon), which enables the snail to breathe air while staying submerged. Staying submerged provides the apple snail with a great advantage because they are very vulnerable to snail-eating birds at the surface." 
(Courtesy of http://www.applesnail.net/content/multi_languages/english.htm 
Fascinating, huh? Well, now I finally know what all this madness has been.

While we're talking about snails, I'd thought I'd mention how they're doing. Hippocrates and Socrates have hardly been interacting at all :(. Hippocrates has been very active, but Socrates has been VERY inactive. In fact, I would say he's dead, but he moves every once in a while. I looked it up to make sure he's not sick, and learned that it's completely normal for older snails to be inactive. So all is well.

Just so you know what I'm talking about...

Saturday, February 23, 2013

What the Heck?








Okay, so I keep seeing Socrates with this weird tentacle/psuedopod thing, and (as you can probably guess), I am really confused as to what on Earth it might be or its purpose. He will often climb to a high place, and then it will emerge from under his shell and he'll wave it around. Then he'll pull it back in and climb back down.... I did a little research but didn't find much.If anybody has any idea as to what it might be (fish expert or not,,), please leave a comment below! :) :) 

And.... speaking of Socrates...... Zeus has been bullying him lately. If Socrates is on the gravel at night, he will suck on his shell, and I always have to scare him off with the net. Sometimes, silly Socrates will ctart to climb on to Zeus' face, and Zeus 'strikes' him (I didn't know how else to put it....)