Zonal migration and trail‐following of an intertidal gastropod analyzed by led tracking in the field

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A new technique is described for the continuous recording of the movements of intertidal mollusks in the field. Photographic monitoring of snails equipped with LED [light emitting diodes] powered by small batteries revealed that the prosobranch gastropod Nerita textilis adopts a hybrid (zonal-homing) pattern including a definite trail-following behavior. The method allowed the study of individual feeding migrations in terms of speed and orientation of the snails at different moments of the tidal cycle. The application of the LED technique to other mollusks and nocturnal animals is discussed. Nocturnal arena tests performed to complete the field observations, confirmed the presence of interindividual and self-trailing in N. textilis but not in the related sympatric species N. plicata. The behavior of N. textilis is compared to that of other intertidal mollusks.