You say the strombus was "swimming."  What was the motion like?  A flip and
glide?  Strombids are know to dig that perc in and flip on land.  Was this
an underwater version?  Actual swimming would seem to require use of the
mantle.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Tettelbach [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 4:02 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      swimming gastropods
>
> Greetings - I am trying to track down information on swimming behavior of
> 2
> marine gastropods. I have done a brief electronic literature search and
> have
> spoken to a couple of colleagues, but have not been able to find much
> information to this point. If anyone out there can help I would be most
> grateful.
> During two different night dives in Fiji, 3 yrs ago, I observed gastropod
> swimming that greatly surprised me. The first was a pair of Strombus
> dentatus that swam about 1-1.5 feet off the substrate, with a hang time of
> about 1-1.5 seconds. I understand that Strombus terebellatus is a good
> swimmer, although I have not yet tracked down a reference on that.
> Does anyone know if this has been reported for dentatus?
>
> The second snail behavior was very bizarre. I observed a small (~1 cm
> diameter), flattened white snail that shot away from me and landed about
> 5-
> 6 feet away after i approached it. I caught up with it, then took one
> macro
> picture of it, but before I was able to pick it up, it shot off again
> (kind of
> reminiscent of the flight of a UFO actually) and landed even further away
> than the first flight. After extensive searching I was not able to find it
> again.
> I never saw this behavior again. The one picture that I got is somewhat
> overexposed and I can not identify the snail. It looks somewhat like a
> Modulus.
>
> I will be returning to this site in January 2002 and will attempt to
> follow up
> on these observations.
> If anyone has any thoughts/references, etc. that they might share I would
> greatly appreciate it.
>
> Sincerely, Steve Tettelbach
>
>
>
>
> Stephen T. Tettelbach, Ph.D.
> Natural Science Division
> Southampton College
> Southampton, NY 11968
> Email: <[log in to unmask]>
> Phone: 516-287-8418
> Fax: 516-287-8419