Environmental conditions impact offspring’s form in Sea snail species

In some regions the Planaxis sulcatus sea snail produces larvae while in others they produce further-developed offspring. A research team headed by Benedikt Wiggering and Matthias Glaubrecht from the Center of Natural History (CeNak) at Universität Hamburg have now proven for the first time that the animals in question are indeed one and the same species and have thus adapted brilliantly to living conditions. Their study was published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. Poecilogony describes a phenomenon in which animals that are barely distinguishable as adults have had very different developmental histories. This phenomenon applies to only a very few marine invertebrates. The viviparous sea snail Planaxis sulcatus is one of the few examples. While some offspring are born in a highly developed state (some even sport their adolescent shell!), others are released as swimming larvae into the ocean's currents, where they feed off plankton.