Tom Rice once told me he was told that if you stamp on the sand at low
tide the strombs think the tide is coming up and begin to "pop". He
tried it and it worked! I often notice shells popping when I follow
someones'  footsteps across sand at low tide. Maybe they "hear" the
tide turning too?

Peggy

On Saturday, November 1, 2003, at 12:09 AM, Paul Monfils wrote:

> Well, sound is essentially a vibration. Eardrums are sensitive to such
> vibrations in air, or even in water or solids. When you are underwater
> you
> can hear a power boat a half mile away by the vibrations it sends
> through
> the water. Mollusks don't have ears or eardrums, but they can detect
> vibrations in the water or in the substrate. have you ever walked on a
> hard
> packed sand beach and seen spurts of water coming out of the sand
> twenty
> feet ahead of you, as clams rapidly withdraw their siphons in response
> to
> the vibrations of your footsteps?  In the same way, snakes don't have
> any
> external ear openings, but can "hear" your footsteps by the vibrations
> they
> cause in the ground. So I guess the answer to your question depends on
> just
> how precisely you want to define "hear".
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 11:47 PM
> Subject: Question Man
>
>
>> Dear All;-
>>    Well the question is simple. We know that some mollusks can "see".
>> Can
> any mollusks "hear"?
>>     Q-Man
>>
>>
>> PLEASE NOTE: My new, long-term, and correct email address is:
> [log in to unmask] Please update your records!
>
>
           Peggy Williams: shell collecting trips
          Visit my website: www.Shelltrips.com
                               PO Box 575
                        Tallevast FL 34270
                           (941) 355-2291
                   [log in to unmask]