| Peltospiridae () |
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bathydemersal; marine; depth range 2415 - 2785 m |
| Western Indian Ocean. Mauritius (Ref 127040). |
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This species has a unique characteristics among gastropods, it carries hundreds of dermal sclerites on its foot. Sclerites: curved, elongate, proteinaceous, not calcified; ca. 1x 5 mm in size in adults; white to mettalic black depending on extent of iron sulphide coating; newly grown sclerites milky white. Ferrimagnetic when coated with iron sulphide layer. Shell: three whorls, globose with depressed spire, tighly coiled. Aperture elliptic, very large. Operculum: present in metapodium buried under layers of sclerites; multispiral, concentric in juveniles while curved, bent shape in adults. |
| Populations are found in hydrothermal vents several miles below the ocean surrounded with toxic chemicals and high temperatures reaching more than 300 deg C (Ref. 127038). Food is provided by bacteria that grow inside a special pouch in the snail's throat by converting the chemicals in the vents into energy (Ref. 127038). A deep-sea hydrothermal vent species, found on active black smokers as well as on diffuse flow sites (Ref. 127001). |
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Endangered (EN) (B2ab(iii)) Ref. 123251)
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| harmless |
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