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Pachymelania byronensis, (Wood 1828)
Description:
The thick-walled stable shell grows up to 60 mm in length. There are straight-pointed spikes in spiralling rows. The paucispiral operculum has an excentric basal nucleus. The color varies between yellow and brown tints.
The body color is pink-grey with dark speckles, the eyes are located at the basis of the straight tentacles. The mouth part is comparatively long and soft.
Range/Habitat:
This snail can be found in the estuaries of West-African freshwater rivers, in which the salinity is below 1.5% all year round. Also in a freshwater river in Senegal. It was found at depths of down to 1.7 m.
Reproduction:
Their reproductive period starts during the dry season (December to April). Other than Melanoides sp. well-known to aquarists, the female Pachymelania does not bear "developed" snails – this has been proved at least for P.aurita and P. fusca.
After taking in the sperm the eggs are fecundated, the development takes place inside the mother snail up to the larval stage. P. byronensis is probably a livebearer, however, there was no more detailed data on this, unfortunately.
Food:
The weak teeth and the fringed mantle border hint towards a filter feeder, which means that they eat microplancton. However, they also seem to eat muck as well as algae and microbial growth. They also accept vegetables and seem to like spinach especially.
Additional information:
P. byronensis survives a salinity of 2% for 7 days at the longest, i.e. this snail lives in fresh water only.
It has proved to be compatible with an aquarium and has been kept in tanks with different conditions successfully for years. However, due to its size it should not be kept in a tank smaller than 60 cm front length. It has not bred successfully in captivity.
Disease transmission
The fact that this snail can transmit flukes causing bilharziosis should not be neglected.
Literature:
GLAUBRECHT, M. (1996): Evolutionsökologie und Systematik am Beispiel von Süß- und Brackwasserschnecken (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Cerithioidea): Ontogenese-Strategien, paläontologische Befunde und historische Zoogeographie. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, NL. ISBN 90-73348-52-8.
[ Morphology, anatomy, reproductive biology – in German ]
Translation by Mathias Stein on the basis of:
ZABI (G.S.JJ)et LE LOEWF(P.) > 1992 - Revue des connaissances sur la fauna benthique des millieux margino-litto-raux dÁfrique d´louest. 1- Biologie etecologie des especes.Rev., Hydrobiol.tropp., 25(3):207-249. Auf diesem Wege, vielen Dank :)
[ Detailed information about the habitat, anatomy, range and salinity ]
Weblinks:
Byronensis found in slightly brackish water
[ Location information ]
[ Shell picture ]
This page was actualized on September 1, 2008
Author : Alexandra Behrendt
Translator: Ulrike Bauer
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