Hermit Crabs and Snails

I think I must be part hermit crab...I have an extensive and catalogued shell collection. However, let me state right now that I do not take live critters. There are plenty enough good ones which something else has cleaned out for me. There a jewel-like tree snails over here - mostly extinct due to collecting. Will try to find a picture to post of them. Most lovely! We also have cone shell critters here which can kill an adult. Collectors know all about them and how to avoid paying the ultimate price for one shell.

killer crustaceans, who'da thunk!

Killer Gastropods, actually...

thank you for the correction *grin*

This is a wee tiny picture, and none of my three programs will enlarge it without serious blurring, but these are some of the Hawaiian Tree Snails:

is there a website perchance for us to view these guys?

I am still looking for one - lots of them are text only that I have found. Will continue to work on it. That picture came from Altavista/corbin archives. They are really beautiful!

THat would be great!

Couldn't find anywhere else to put this afticle ...sorta fits here I think ... noisy shrimps Snapping shrimps are the noisiest creatures in the shallow ocean, capable of drowning out submarine sonar by the "snap, crackle and pop" of bubbles generated by their claws. That is the verdict of researchers who have been studying how the tiny marine organisms make such a din. Go to to read the rest of the article, see pix and HEAR noisy shrimps!!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_935000/935855.stm

Monday September 25, 3:00 PM Having a snail of a time! http://uk.news.yahoo.com/000925/15/akk6h.html World's first ever online snail race, organised by Blue Square, is a trailblazing new entry onto the gambling scene. The first ever snail race in the world to be broadcast on the Web took place Monday, at http://www.bluesquare.com. UK betting service Blue Square organised the race, which involved six snails racing up 427mm poles away from water. Snails were randomly chosen and colour-coded, and every snail given odds of 4-1. Races are to take place every day at 12:30pm from Monday through to Saturday, and you can tune in for live streaming coverage. In today's race, the "black" snail roared to the finishing line like a true pro, while the less orthodox "red" snail left its own pole and began climbing up the blue one.

Dunno where else to put this!!!! Thursday October 12 4:41 PM ET Scientists Find Completely New Animal in Greenland http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001012/sc/life_animal_dc_1.html COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Reuters) - Danish scientists have found a completely new kind of animal down a cold well in Greenland and are keeping a colony of them in a fridge, the Arctic magazine Polarfronten reported on the Internet Thursday. The 0.1-millimeter long freshwater organism does not fit into any one of the previously known animal families -- making it only the fourth such creature to be discovered on the planet in the past 100 years, Polarfronten said. Studies of the animal named ``Limnognathia maerski'' show that it shares some characteristics with certain seawater life-forms. Scientists from Copenhagen University and Aarhus University in Denmark have established a new phylum -- or family -- for the tiny animal, whose most remarkable feature is a set of very complicated jaws. It has now got its own branch, Micrognathozoa, on the tree of the world's known animals, which are divided into slightly more than 30 families, Polarfronten said. Limnognathia maerski, which reproduces through parthenogenesis, uses its jaws to scrape the bacteria and algae it feeds on from underwater moss growing in icy wells which freeze over during the long Arctic winter. The animal was found in samples taken in 1994 from a well in Isunngua on Disco island in northwestern Greenland. A colony of the tiny creatures, all females, is in a refrigerator at Copenhagen University. Greenland, the world's largest island, is part of Denmark.

maggie, i've created a topic specific for things like this. very interesting and thanks!!