#molluscs

tagging @epersonae and @mxmollusca

For anyone unfamiliar with this incredible creature:

octopus briareus is the wisest mollusc known to science. he has experienced everything there is to life and can tell you all about it for hours on end if you ask him politely

he exudes high amounts of wisdom just by doing nothing, and by exude I mean the wisdom actually comes out of his body as a physical substance. it's red and a bit slimey

glorpiness rating: squeak

photographed by Mayve (strongm) (CC BY-NC 4.0)

and the slugs...................

Today’s daily critter is a species of terrestrial snail called the Grand Canyon Talussnail (Sonorella coloradoensis) [1]. Unsurprisingly, they are found in the Grand Canyon in the USA, more specifically Arizona [2] and were actually the first Grand Canyon mollusk described [3].

They were first found there in 1889, with the original author describing their occurrence at a height of 1066 m opposite the Kaibab Plateau [4], however later authors point out that this isn’t a very exact description, as the Kaibab Plateau is quite large and when they asked, found the locality described closer to the Walhalla Plateau [2]. Since then they have actually been found at many more locations along the Colorado River segment of the Grand Canyon, ranging across life zones [3]. Their colonies are isolated and mostly small, staying near eruptive or metamorphic rocks [2].

They have two subspecies [5], whose main difference is in size. The shells of S. c. coloradoensis are around 1.5 cm in diameter, with a max of 1.8 cm, their penis is around 5 mm, and their vagina around 3 mm. Meanwhile S. c. mohaveana has similar genitalia size (differing slightly in the structure), but has shells of up to 2.05 cm [6]. The shell pictured above is actually of the holotype (so individual upon whom the species is based) of S. c. mohaveana, collected in 1967 [7].