Range: Sulawesi Island

Habitat: Freshwater lakes and rivers

Size: Less than an inch (2.54cm) to 4.7 inches (12cm)

Diet: Plant and animal matter

Threats: Crabs and other larger animals

Lifespan: One to three years in captivity

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing rabbit snails. These snails get their common name for the long appendages that protrude from their heads. They look like long, floppy rabbit ears! Rabbit snails are also known as elephant snails and orange snails, though they aren't always orange. They can be yellow, black and white, cream colored, and more! These gastropods live in freshwater lakes and rivers of Indonesia, specially on the island of Sulawesi. This tropical island has warm lakes with temperatures that don't go below 79°F (26°C), so these snails like it hot!

There are dozens of described rabbit snail species.These snails have high diversity in a relatively small area with closely related species, therefore they're considered a species flock - like Darwin's finches! These molluscs live in different parts of their habitat depending on the species. Some prefer sandy or muddy soft bottom substrate while others have a preference for hard surfaces like wood or rocks. They can be so specific to their preferences that they'll almost only be found on that particular preferred substrate. They're abundant and common from the shoreline to water as deep as six and a half feet (2m) but after that they're far less common. Rabbit snails move in a stop and go motion, dragging their large, conical shell behind them. It makes the shell look super heavy! A rabbit snail's radula, like the beaks in Darwin's finches, can be a good indicator of the food it consumes and the habitat it frequents. For example, those with a larger radula are more commonly seen on hard surfaces.

A snail's radula are the teeth-like plates that form at the opening of their mouth. In rabbit snails, these can be hooked, rounded, squared, pointed, spoon-shaped and more! Depending on the species, these snails eat anything from plant to animal matter. In turn, they're eaten by other animals like crabs. In fact, the crabs that live in the lakes these snails inhabit are believed to have co-evolved with rabbit snails. Rabbit snails found in lakes where crabs live have thicker, tougher shells when compared to rabbit snails in rivers without crab predators. In turn, the crabs have more heavily ridged claws for breaking into the lake snails' harder shells!

Unlike some snails, rabbit snails have separate sexes, though the males and females are impossible to tell apart from the outside. A male inserts a spermatophore into the female and she broods her eggs inside her shell. Once developed, they are released as fully formed snails with a shell. In fact, rabbit snails give live birth to some of the largest shelled gastropods known today. In size, rabbit snails may be less than an inch to over four inches (2.54-10cm) in shell length and their babies can reach an eighth of an inch (2cm) in length when born! Rabbit snails reproduce slowly and often give birth to a single baby at a time. These individual babies are born at intervals. According to rabbit snail owners, they can live anywhere from one to three years in captivity, though their life span in the wild is currently undocumented.

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