Clea helena

Robbery tower snail ( Clea helena )

The predatory tower snail ( Clea helena, helena also Anentome ) is a carnivore freshwater snail from the family of Buccinidae. It is widespread in Southeast Asia.

Features

The case of the robbery tower snail is conical, tower -shaped to slender tower shaped. It measures in the adult stage 18 to 28 mm in height and 7 to 13 mm in diameter. It is yellow to olive-brown, uniformly colored in the color or even with one to three brown spiral bands; a band below the suture, a band at the periphery, and a band on the basis of the dealing. Casing shape, ornamentation and color drawings are highly variable within the species. The skin is firm and not translucent. The ornamentation varies greatly, the whorls are usually staffed with highly trained differently, axial ribs that are missing only very rarely. In the upper half are provided with fine spiral lines. There shall be six to eight turns. The last whorl is pulled into a short, wide siphonal extension. The housing opening is relatively large and oval, the aperture rim is sharp. Parietal a callus is formed. The soft body is brownish colored, of white, relatively large distance. Externally striking is the trunk, which can be widely stretched forward. The characteristic of snails two sensors are slightly bent. The eyes are located at the base of the sensor. The radula has three teeth per transverse row. The average tooth ( rachis ) has seven peaks, of which one to three peaks may be missing. The lateral teeth show three peaks, a large curved peak and two smaller peaks. It is an operculum present, with which the mouth can be closed. It is almond shaped with a basal nucleus and concentric growth lines.

Geographic occurrence and habitat

The predatory snail tower is widely used in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand ), where she not only inhabits rivers, but also occurs in stagnant waters. She lives mainly on the ground and preferably fine-grained substrates, but also lives on hard ground.

Way of life

The species lives mainly on carrion, but also eats other aquatic snails and their nests as well as worms. The animals are dioecious. The males fertilize the females. After a few days of scrims are stored on hard substrate, which often contain only one egg. Depending on the temperature, the boys slip after two to six weeks.

Hunting and

The predatory snail tower is a popular aquarium animals in freshwater aquaria, which is used for the control of snail populations.

Taxonomy

The former genus Anentome is now regarded as a subgenus of Clea. The genus Clea contains the Nominatuntergattung Clea ( Clea ) and the subgenus Clea ( Afrocanidia ), which includes the African species.