''Cumia reticulata'',Bouchet, P. (2010). Cumia reticulata (Blainville, 1829). In: MolluscaBase (2017). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=527497 on 2017-11-15 common name the false triton, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

, a marine

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the family Colubrariidae. In this family, there are at least 6 species that are known to feed on blood. The trait of feeding on blood is likely shared by the entire family. It is commonly known as the vampire snail because it feeds on the blood of fish when they are asleep. ''Colubraria reticulata'' are commonly found in rocky and coral environments that are tropical or subtropical and temperate seas. They are found in the

benthic zone The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning " ...

, which is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water.

Description

Members of the Neogastropoda are mostly gonochoric and broadcast spawners. The lifecycle of these snails start off as embryos that develop into planktonic trochophore larvae. After the larval stage, they evolve into juvenile veligers before becoming fully grown adults. The length of the shell varies between 10 mm and 64 mm.

Distribution

The type locality is Sicily. It also occurs off

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

. They are also located in the Southwest Mediterranean Sea and are not considered as widely dispersed species.

Feeding habits

The vampire snail feeds at night when fishes are asleep. Their modified mouthpart can slice flesh like tiny scalpels. At the end of their mouth is a mounted proboscis. These snails possess a long thin

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...

to feed on the

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

of fish. Once contact is made between the

and the skin of the fish, the

extends its length to gain access to the blood vessel. Their proboscis can stretch 3 times its body length and allows them to bypass many fishes defenses to blood sucking. An example would be the

Parrot fish Parrotfishes are a group of about 90 fish species regarded as a family (Scaridae), or a subfamily (Scarinae) of the wrasses. With about 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found in coral reefs, ro ...

's mucus sleeping bag.

Secretion of Bioactive Molecules

Upon contact with the skin, anesthetic is secreted to numb the area. ''Colubraria reticulata'' secretes chemicals that disrupts the process of blood clotting and wound healing. Common anesthetics from

protein families A protein family is a group of evolutionarily related proteins. In many cases, a protein family has a corresponding gene family, in which each gene encodes a corresponding protein with a 1:1 relationship. The term "protein family" should not be ...

ShK, Turripeptide, ADA, and CAP-ShK were found to be present during

hematophagy Hematophagy (sometimes spelled haematophagy or hematophagia) is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words αἷμα ' "blood" and φαγεῖν ' "to eat"). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious pro ...

. In addition,

anticoagulant Anticoagulants, commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, where the ...

s such as PS1, Meprin, and Kunitz were also present to prevent blood clotting. The anticoagulants are active until the blood is fully digested. These snails have secondary glands in the oesophagus that secrete proteins to keep the blood liquified in their guts. Furthermore, vasopressives were found and because the proboscis is thin, it is hypothesized for vasopressives to increase blood pressure to allow maximization of blood income and feeding time. This is significant because the snail's proboscis is not very muscular so without vasopressive compounds, they cannot suck blood efficiently. Turritoxin which is unique to the vampire snail, is also produced by coneshell. Although the function of turritoxin is specifically unknown to the vampire snail, scientists have looked towards coneshell and hypothesized that the use of turritoxin is of the same manner.

References

* Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca. in: Costello, M.J. et al. (eds), European Register of Marine Species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Patrimoines Naturels. 50: 180-213 * Bernard, P.A. (Ed.) (1984). Coquillages du Gabon hells of Gabon Pierre A. Bernard: Libreville, Gabon. 140, 75 plates pp. * Ardovini R. (2014) Istituzione di una nuova varietà appartenente alla famiglia Colubrariidae Dall, 1904 nel Mediterraneo e revisione sistematica. Malacologia Mostra Mondiale 82: 6-8 *Leung, T. (1970, January 1). ''Colubraria reticulata''. Retrieved from http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2015/11/colubraria-reticulata.html *Modica, M. V., Lombardo, F., Franchini, P., & Oliverio, M. (2015). The venomous cocktail of the vampire snail Colubraria reticulata (Mollusca, Gastropoda). ''BMC Genomics'', ''16''(1). doi: 10.1186/s12864-015-1648-4 *Sealifebase.ca. (2019). ''Cumia reticulata''. nlineAvailable at: https://www.sealifebase.ca/summary/Cumia-reticulata.html

External links