Painted rocksnail

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Painted rocksnail
Leptoxis taeniata shell.jpg
Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis coosaensis
Status TNC G1.svg
Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Family: Pleuroceridae
Genus: Leptoxis
Species:
L. coosaensis
Binomial name
Leptoxis coosaensis
((I. Lea, 1861)
Synonyms

Leptoxis taeniata misapplied

The painted rocksnail (Leptoxis coosaensis, formerly Leptoxis taeniata) is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae.

Contents

This species is endemic to the United States, specifically the state of Alabama. [2] The snail has been listed as threatened on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species since October 28, 1998. [3]

Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis coosaensis from 1845 book by Jean-Charles Chenu. Leptoxis taeniata shell 2.jpg
Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis coosaensis from 1845 book by Jean-Charles Chenu.
Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis coosaensis Leptoxis taeniata shell 3.jpg
Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis coosaensis
Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis coosaensis Leptoxis taeniata shell 4.jpg
Drawing of the shell of Leptoxis coosaensis

Description

The painted rocksnail is a small to medium-sized pleurocerid snail with a shell that measures about 19 mm (0.75 in) in length, and is subglobose to oval in shape. The aperture is broadly ovate, and rounded anteriorly. The shell coloration varies from yellowish to olive-brown, usually with four dark bands. Some shells do not have these dark bands, and some have the bands broken into square or oblong patches (see Goodrich, 1922 [4] for a detailed description). [5]

All of the rocksnails that historically inhabited the Mobile Basin had broadly rounded apertures, oval shaped shells, and variable coloration. Although the various species were distinguished by relative sizes, coloration patterns, and ornamentation, identification could be confusing. The painted rocksnail is the only known survivor of the 15 rocksnail species that historically occurred in the Coosa River drainage. [5]

Distribution

The painted rocksnail had the largest range of any rocksnail in the Mobile River Basin. [4] It was historically known from the Coosa River and tributaries from the northeastern corner of St. Clair County, Alabama, downstream into the mainstem of the Alabama River to Claiborne, Monroe County, Alabama, and the Cahaba River below the Fall Line in Perry and Dallas counties, Alabama. [4] [6]

Surveys by Service biologists and others [7] [8] [9] in the Cahaba River, unimpounded portions of the Alabama River, and a number of free-flowing Coosa River tributaries have located only three localized Coosa River drainage populations. [5]

The painted rocksnail is currently known from the lower reaches of three Coosa River tributaries: Choccolocco Creek, Talladega County, Alabama; Buxahatchee Creek, Shelby County; [7] and Ohatchee Creek, Calhoun County, Alabama. [5] [9]

Reasons for the decline

The Painted rocksnail has disappeared from more than 90 percent of its historic range. The curtailment of habitat and range for this (and few other snail species) species in the Mobile Basin's larger rivers (Coosa River, Alabama River and Cahaba River for Painted rocksnail) is primarily due to extensive construction of dams, and the subsequent inundation of the snail's shoal habitats by the impounded waters. This snail has disappeared from all portions of its historic habitats that have been impounded by dams. [5]

Dams change such areas by eliminating or reducing currents, and thus allowing sediments to accumulate on inundated channel habitats. Impounded waters also experience changes in water chemistry, which could affect survival or reproduction of riverine snails. For example, many reservoirs in the Basin currently experience eutrophic (enrichment of a water body with nutrients) conditions, and chronically low dissolved oxygen levels. [10] [11] Such physical and chemical changes can affect feeding, respiration, and reproduction of these riffle and shoal snail species. [5]

Conservation

Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute (TNARI) has established captive populations of painted rocksnails. Releases of hatchery produced painted rocksnails were planned for 2005. [5] (update needed)

Ecology

Habitat

Painted rocksnails are gill-breathing snails which are found attached to cobble, gravel, or other hard substrates in the strong currents of riffles (a shallow area in a streambed that causes ripples in the water) and shoals. [5]

Life cycle

Adult rocksnails move around very little, and females probably glue their eggs to stones in the same habitat. [4] Longevity in the painted rocksnail is unknown but may be short: the lifespan in a Tennessee River rocksnail was reported as less than 2 years. [5] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile River</span> River in the United States

The Mobile River is located in southern Alabama in the United States. Formed out of the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, the approximately 45-mile-long (72 km) river drains an area of 44,000 square miles (110,000 km2) of Alabama, with a watershed extending into Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Its drainage basin is the fourth-largest of primary stream drainage basins entirely in the United States. The river has historically provided the principal navigational access for Alabama. Since construction of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, it also provides an alternative route into the Ohio River watershed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cahaba River</span> River in Alabama, United States

The Cahaba River is the longest substantially free-flowing river in Alabama and is among the most scenic and biologically diverse rivers in the United States. It is a major tributary of the Alabama River and part of the larger Mobile River basin. With headwaters near Birmingham, the Cahaba flows southwest, then at Heiberger turns southeast and joins the Alabama River at the ghost town and former Alabama capital of Cahaba in Dallas County. Entirely within central Alabama, the Cahaba River is 194 miles (312 km) long and drains an area of 1,870 square miles (4,800 km2). The name Cahaba is derived from the Choctaw words oka meaning "water" and aba meaning "above"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cahaba pebblesnail</span> Species of gastropod

The Cahaba pebblesnail, scientific name Clappia cahabensis, is a species of very small freshwater snail, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Lithoglyphidae.

The lacy elimia also known as the lacey elimia, scientific name Elimia crenatella, is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.

<i>Leptoxis ampla</i> Species of gastropod

Leptoxis ampla, common name the round rocksnail, is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae.

<i>Leptoxis</i> Genus of gastropods

Leptoxis is a genus of freshwater snails with a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod molluscs in the family Pleuroceridae.

Leptoxis clipeata, the agate rocksnail, was a freshwater snail in the family Pleuroceridae. Like all Leptoxis, the species required free-flowing unpolluted water. It was endemic to parts of the Coosa River in Alabama, now impounded.

<i>Leptoxis compacta</i> Species of gastropod

Leptoxis compacta, the oblong rocksnail, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.

Leptoxis foremani, the interrupted rocksnail, is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.

The bigmouth rocksnail, scientific name †Leptoxis occultata, was a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae. This species was endemic to Alabama in the United States. It is now extinct.

The spotted rocksnail, scientific name Leptoxis picta, is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae. This species is endemic to Alabama in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plicate rocksnail</span> Species of gastropod

The plicate rocksnail, scientific name Leptoxis plicata, is a species of freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.

The Coosa rocksnail, scientific name †Leptoxis showalterii, also known as the "ribbed rocksnail", was a species of freshwater snails with an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Pleuroceridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flat pebblesnail</span> Species of gastropod

The flat pebblesnail is a species of freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Lithoglyphidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cylindrical lioplax</span> Species of gastropod

The cylindrical lioplax, scientific name Lioplax cyclostomaformis, is a species of freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Viviparidae.

The rough hornsnail, scientific name Pleurocera foremani, is a rare species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Pleuroceridae.

<i>Elimia showalteri</i> Species of gastropod

Elimia showalteri, common name the compact elimia, is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusc in the family Pleuroceridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainbow shiner</span> Species of fish

The rainbow shiner is a North American species of ray-finned fish in the genus Notropis.

References

This article incorporates public domain text (a public domain work of the United States Government) from the reference. [5]

  1. ↑ Bogan, A.; Cordeiro, J. (2012). "Leptoxis taeniata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2012: e.T11785A503764. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012.RLTS.T11785A503764.en . Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Leptoxis coosaensis". NatureServe Explorer An online encyclopedia of life. 7.1. NatureServe. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  3. ↑ "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Status for Three Aquatic Snails, and Threatened Status for Three Aquatic Snails in the Mobile River Basin of Alabama" (PDF). Federal Register, Rules and Regulations. United States Fish and Wildlife Service. October 28, 1998.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Goodrich C. 1922. The Anculosae of the Alabama River Drainage. Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (7):1-57.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2005. Recovery Plan for 6 Mobile River Basin Aquatic Snails. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi. 46 pp. pages 9-10, page 15 and 17.
  6. ↑ Burch J.B. 1989. North American freshwater snails. Malacological Publications, Hamburg, Michigan. 365 pp.
  7. 1 2 Bogan A.E. & J.M. Pierson. 1993. Survey of the aquatic gastropods of the Coosa River Basin, Alabama: 1992. Alabama Natural Heritage Program. Contract Number 1923.
  8. ↑ Bogan A.E. & J.M. Pierson. 1993. Survey of the aquatic gastropods of the Cahaba River Basin, Alabama: 1992. Alabama Natural Heritage Program. Contract Number 1922.
  9. 1 2 M. Pierson, in litt., 1993
  10. ↑ Alabama Department of Environmental Management. 1994. Water quality report to Congress for calendar years 1992 and 1993. Montgomery, Alabama. 111 pp.
  11. ↑ Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). 1996. Water quality report to Congress for calendar years 1994 and 1995. Montgomery, Alabama. 144 pp.
  12. ↑ Heller J. 1990. Longevity in molluscs. Malacologia 31(2): 259-295.
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