The scaly-foot snail makes its own iron armor and lives in the Indian Ocean's scorching hydrothermal vents.
The incredible iron shell of the volcanic snail permits it to endure the extremely hot hydrothermal vents where it lives.
Chrysomallon squamiferum is its scientific name, however you can also call it the volcano snail. It is also sometimes referred to as the sea pangolin, the scaly-foot gastropod, or the scaly-foot snail. Whatever name you give it, this squiggly little tough guy survives in the world's hottest underwater volcano vents' lowest regions and has an iron sulfide shell to protect it from the intense heat.
And just recently, for the first time in history, scientists sequenced its genome, dispelling one of the greatest mysteries in science at the moment.
Let's look at what we've learned about this tiny ecological marvel that can withstand the real heat and brimstone of hell.
The Volcano Snail's Mechanism in Detail
The scaly-foot gastropod was the name given to the volcanic snail when it was first identified in 2001, and it is still often used in the scientific community. Science asserted that it was only a component of the Indian Ocean biome at the time of its initial discovery. They allegedly gathered around the alleged "hydrothermal vents" of the Indian Ocean, according to the scientific journal.
However, it wasn't until 2015 that the scientific community officially assigned the snail a genus and species.
In the Indian Ocean, the snail is frequently discovered in hydrothermal vents. The Kairei hydrothermal vent field, the snail's first well-known habitat, and the Solitaire field, its second, are both on the Central Indian Ridge.
The snail was later discovered in the Longqi vent field in the Southwest Indian Ridge, close to hydrothermal vents. These tiny animals are only found in the Indian Ocean, 1.5 miles below the surface of the sea, regardless of what field you look for them in.
And that's not the only thing that makes them special. These hydrothermal vents may reach temperatures of up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, thus the snails require the proper weatherproofing. And, according to the Smithsonian Magazine, they've successfully handled the required protection, along with evolution.
The iron sulfide in the volcano snail's surroundings helps it create a "suit of armor" to cover its delicate inside. Smithsonian added that rather than "feeding" in the conventional sense, the strange organism obtains its nutrition from bacteria it processes in a sizable gland.
But recently, researchers dived deep to try to figure out what makes this unusual species tick. And they received their response in April 2020.
DNA Decoding of the Sea Pangolin
The genome of the volcano snail was first ever deciphered by researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers discovered that the gastropod's unusual iron shell was made possible by 25 transcription factors.
According to one of the researchers, Dr. Sun Jin, "we observed that one gene, termed MTP - metal tolerance protein - 9, exhibited a 27-fold increase in the population with iron sulphide mineralization compared to the one without."
Iron sulfides, which give the gastropods their characteristic colors, are produced when the iron ions in the snails' surroundings react with the sulfur in their scales. In the end, the snail's genome sequence provided the researchers with novel insights on potential uses for the iron in their shells, including suggestions for how to improve the protective gear used by soldiers in the field.
Despite how awesome these creatures are, deep-sea mineral mining, which may have an effect on the Earth's shifting climate, puts them in danger of extinction.
Why It's Possible For The Volcano Snail To Extinct
The volcanic snail, also known as the scaly-foot snail, was added to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) list of endangered species in 2019. In recent years, there has been a noticeable fall in population. In contrast to the others, where their numbers were rapidly declining, they were noticeably abundant in the Longqi vent field.
Deep-sea mining is the biggest threat to the survival of the snail. Polymetallic sulfide mineral resources are coveted for their high concentration of precious metals, such as copper, silver, and gold. These resources form frequently close to the snails residing in hydrothermal vents. Thus, the continued disruption of their ecosystem by mining poses a threat to the gastropods' ability to survive.
The volcanic snail deserves more study for conservation even though there aren't any present conservation initiatives in place to safeguard it. The organization urged more investigation "to determine whether the populations would be susceptible to disturbance by mining, to confirm whether the species is present at any other vent site along the Central and South Indian ridges, and to ascertain the low dispersal reproductive system for this species, as these will assist in reevaluating the conservation status of the species."
The volcanic snail is a remarkable gastropod since it is the only known living thing with iron in its exoskeleton.
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