Among the most unusual species of freshwater snail is the Red Spotted Bella Snail, Paludomus loricatus, from Sri Lanka. The eyes of this snail are very attractive coloured, brightly red-orange. Around the mantle are numerous folds of the same colour.
We are informed on the biology of P. loricatus by Starmühlner (Starmühlner, F. (1974): The freshwater gastropods of Ceylon. Bull. Fish. Res. Stn. Sri Lanka, 25, 97-181). According to him, the snails inhabit clear, very clean, fast running streams in the crystalline uplands of South-West Sri Lanka (altitude 60-700 m). The snails prefer to crawl near the water surface on rocks and stones in a current between 30 and 100 cm/s; sometimes they are also found outside the water. The water is very soft (total hardness 0.5-1.2°dH), the pH is between 5.8 and 7.1, the water temperature between 18 and 27.3°C. The snails feed on Aufwuchs and detritus. It is thought that they are – like all members of the genus Paludomus – are ovo-viviparous, eg that they give birth to completely developed youngsters.
For our customers: the animals have code 485812 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Sri Lanka |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 2-3 |
