User:Kykevanderbrugge/sandbox

Species description
Struthiolaria papulosa, common name Ostrich Foot Snail or Tākai in Māori, is a marine snail native to New Zealand It comes from Struthiolariidae and is considered large for this family with an average body length of 77 mm, a body volume of 26.9 cm3 and a wet body mass of 47 grams. Snails have shells holding their organs hence they cannot live without them. The shell of this snail is dextrally coiled and made of calcium carbonate. The upper part of the shell is small and cone-shaped made of two swirls, called the protoconch. On this protoconch there are fine lines very close to each other. The opening of the shell has an oval shape with thick, turned-out and wavy lips. At the top of the opening there is a thickened area. The snail itself uses lens eyes for its visual system. It moves itself forward by mucus-mediated gliding. This means that contraction and expansion of muscles in the snail create waves that move the snail over a mucus layer overlaying the substrate. This results into motion forward. In figure 1 the general internal anatomy of gastropods is shown. Although the origin of this snail is unclear, it is believed that S. errata is one possible ancestor. This is thought because of the difference between shell forms in the southern part of New Zealand and the northern part. Shells originating from these two areas show a certain geographic gap; Northern shells are small and short compared to the southern shells and have big pointed nodules, whereas southern shells are bigger with smaller nodules. Both S. errata and S. papulosa have characteristics similar to other southern shells.

Natural global range
S. papulosa is mostly native to New Zealand but can also be found in certain places along the south and east coast of Australia (Figure 2).

New Zealand range
It is believed that S. papulosa originates from the southern part of New Zealand because of the shell’s shape. Over time it dispersed further north so now it is mostly found along the coast between the North and South Island of New Zealand. It has also been observed completely in the north of the North Island and on the west coast of the South Island. Examples of places where the S. papulosa has been observed are Great Exhibition Bay, Bland Bay, Tutukaka Harbour, Ruakaka Beach, Uretiti Beach, Manukau Harbour Auckland, Big Bay Auckland, Opape Beach, Pelorus Sound, Marlborough Sounds, off Tasman Bay, Open Cove Thompson Sound, off Taiaroa Head, off Taieri and Stewart Island (Figure 3).

Habitat preferences
The preferred habitat of S. papulosa is the marine benthic biome because it survives best in shallow salt water or on sand flats in sheltered or open coasts. The benthic biome is the seafloor and includes shores, marine coral reefs, littoral areas and the deep seabed.

Life cycle
S. papulosa is a marine snail that has the same life cycle as all marine snails in general. This life cycle is divided in four stages: egg, larva, juvenile and adult. For an adult to lay eggs, sexual reproduction is necessary. In this process, a male and female snail release their sperm and eggs into the water which can take up to 1 hour. Fertilization happens outside of the body after which the fertilized egg starts developing. The egg starts forming a larval shell 9-10 hours after fertilization. Around 3 days later, the larvae have grown into juvenile sea snails and will keep developing to adult snails. The lifespan of sea snails is around 5 years, but could easily get extended to 25 years in captivity or without any predators.

Diet and foraging
S. papulosa is a filter feeder that feeds on algae, plankton and other small marine animals. It filters suspended matter from the water with a specialized filtering structure or uses its tooth-lined tongue to graze seaweed from the bottom of the sea.

Predators, Parasites, and Diseases
As soon as the fertilized eggs enter the sea water, they are vulnerable to many types of predators, like fish, birds and reptiles. Sea snails are very nutritious so that is why they are in the diet of many other animals. Especially in the egg and larva stage, they are eaten by many plankton feeders. The biggest threat to S. papulosa is the Asteroidea like starfish. Starfish like to feed on S. papulosa. The Asteroidea-S. papulosa relationship has been studied and research shows that S. papulosa protects itself from being eaten by starfish by repeatedly doing somersaults.