Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The pointed campeloma, Campeloma de­cisum, is a fresh­wa­ter snail found in east­ern North Amer­ica. It ranges from Nova Sco­tia, south­ern On­tario and south­ern Man­i­toba, south to east­ern Texas, Louisiana, Mis­sis­sippi, Al­abama, and north­ern Geor­gia and Vir­ginia. ("Campeloma de­cisum", 2003; Burch, 1989)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Campeloma de­cisum is gen­er­ally found in flow­ing wa­ters, par­tic­u­larly rivers, and is also found in lentic en­vi­ron­ments, such as lakes. It is more abun­dant in areas with sandy sub­strate. (Bovb­jerg, 1952; Dil­lon, et al., 2006; John­son, 1992a)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• freshwater

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Campeloma de­cisum is 2 cm to 4 cm or more in length. The spire of the shell is elon­gate, the body whorl rounded, and the aper­a­ture length is greater than the width. The shell is light yel­low­ish olive to olive col­ored, but can have de­posits of tan, brown or rust. Adults have spi­ral lines. New­born young have a opaque white or light translu­cent beige shell. This species has an op­er­cu­lum, which is a cal­care­ous plate at­tached to the foot. When the snail re­tracts into it's shell, the op­er­cu­lum seals off the aper­ture. The op­er­cu­lum has a horn-like color and has con­cen­tric rings ra­di­at­ing from the cen­ter. The soft parts of the an­i­mal are gray, with or­ange spots on the un­der­side of the foot. The an­te­rior of the foot is squar­ish and ex­tends be­yond the short and nar­row ros­trum (snout). The pos­te­rior end of the foot is roundish. In pop­u­la­tions that are not parthenogenic, this species is sex­u­ally di­mor­phic, with fe­males big­ger than males. Males also have a right ten­ta­cle shorter and thicker than the left ten­ta­cle, which is mod­i­fied as a penis sheath. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989; Great Lakes En­vi­ron­men­tal Re­search Lab­o­ra­tory, 2008)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Range length

  2 to 4 cm

  0.79 to 1.57 in

De­vel­op­ment

There is lit­tle known about the de­vel­op­ment of Campeloma de­cisum. Young are born within the par­ent and graze within a spe­cial pouch until re­leased. In one study in Lou­siana, more fe­males were pre­sent, and young were re­leased from two year old snails. (Brown, et al., 1989; Burch and Jung, 1992; John­son, 2003)

Re­pro­duc­tion

There is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion on the mat­ing habits of Campeloma de­cisum. This species has both sex­ual and parthenogenic pop­u­la­tions. Mat­ing usu­ally takes place in the warmer months of the year. In a Louisiana pop­u­la­tion, sex ra­tios were skewed to­ward fe­males. (Brown, et al., 1989)

Campeloma de­cisum is vi­vip­a­rous. Dif­fer­ent pop­u­la­tions of Campeloma de­cisum have dif­fer­ent pat­terns of sex­ual ma­tu­rity and re­pro­duc­tion. In Louisiana, this species has a shorter life cycle than north­ern pop­u­la­tions, and these Louisiana pop­u­la­tions reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at the age of two years. Some pop­u­la­tions re­pro­duce parthenogeni­cally, while oth­ers are sex­ual and some are both. Pop­u­la­tions can also be iteroparous or semel­parous. (Brown, et al., 1989; Dil­lon, et al., 2006; John­son, 1992b)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• parthenogenic
• sexual

• Breeding interval

  Campeloma descisum mates once a year.

• Breeding season

  Campeloma descisum mates in the warmer months of the year.

Fe­males of Campeloma de­cisum pro­vide sig­nif­i­cant parental care be­fore birth. Young are born in­side the par­ent and will graze for food in­side a yolk sac until re­leased. There is no parental care after the snails are born. (Burch, 1989; John­son, 2003)

• Parental Investment
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The lifes­pan of C. de­scisum dif­fers with lat­i­tude. Tem­per­ate pop­u­la­tions gen­er­ally live 3 to 5 years, al­though some may live up to 12 years. Sub­trop­i­cal pop­u­la­tions live only one to two years. (Brown, et al., 1989; Burch and Jung, 1992; Dil­lon, et al., 2006)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  1 to 12 years

Be­hav­ior

Campeloma de­scisum is usu­ally found around de­cay­ing or­ganic mat­ter, and bur­rows in the sub­strate. In­di­vid­u­als ag­gre­gate and may move up to 10 m up­stream. These ag­gre­ga­tions can be very large; av­er­age den­si­ties in Louisiana pop­u­la­tions were mea­sured at 300 per square meter, peak­ing in the sum­mer to 600 to 800 snails per square meter. (Bovb­jerg, 1952; Brown, et al., 1989; Burch and Jung, 1992)

• Key Behaviors
• motile
• sedentary
• social

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Gas­tropods in gen­eral have a cen­tral­ized ner­vous sys­tem. Campeloma de­cisum has eye spots at the base of its ten­ta­cles, which per­ceive light. Chemosenses are likely also used to find its food. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989)

• Communication Channels
• tactile
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• vibrations
• chemical

Food Habits

Campeloma de­cisum is a de­posit or fil­ter feeder. This species is a de­tri­ti­vore, feed­ing pri­mar­ily on par­tic­u­lates in soft sed­i­ments. (Brown, et al., 1989; Great Lakes En­vi­ron­men­tal Re­search Lab­o­ra­tory, 2008)

• Primary Diet
• detritivore

• Other Foods
• detritus

• Foraging Behavior
• filter-feeding

Pre­da­tion

Campeloma de­cisum is eaten by fish, div­ing ducks, tur­tles and cray­fish. Bur­row­ing in the sed­i­ment may be a way for these pointed campeloma snails to avoid pre­da­tion. (John­son, 2003; van Ap­ple­dorn, et al., 2007)

Pointed campeloma snails are eaten by fish, div­ing ducks, tur­tles and cray­fish. Bur­row­ing in the soil and dirt at the bot­tom of rivers and lakes may be a good way for these snails to avoid being eaten by preda­tors. (John­son, 2003; van Ap­ple­dorn, et al., 2007)

• Known Predators

  • Fish, Actinopterygii
  • Diving ducks, Aythya spp.
  • Turtles, Testudines
  • Crayfish, Cambaridae

Ecosys­tem Roles

Fresh­wa­ter snails in gen­eral are an im­por­tant link in aquatic ecosys­tems, cy­cling nu­tri­ents by feed­ing on algae and other de­tri­tus in the water. Campeloma de­cisum is a sig­nif­i­cant food source for fish, div­ing ducks, tur­tles and cray­fish. Fresh­wa­ter snails are often in­ter­me­di­ate hosts for trema­todes. Campeloma de­cisum is a known host for the fluke San­guini­cola oc­ci­den­talis, which in­fects yel­low perch. These snails are also the in­ter­me­di­ate hosts for the trema­tode, Leu­cochlo­rid­iomor­pha con­stan­tiae, which in­fects water fowl. This trema­tode is found in the fe­male re­pro­duc­tive sys­tem in parthenogenic pop­u­la­tions. (John­son, 1992a; John­son, 2003; Muz­zall, 2000)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

There are no know pos­i­tive ef­fects of Campeloma de­cisum on hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Campeloma de­cisum on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Campeloma de­cisum cur­rently has no spe­cial con­ser­va­tion sta­tus. How­ever, the in­va­sive zebra mus­sel, Dreis­sena poly­mor­pha, set­tles on this snail, im­ped­ing move­ment and pos­si­bly growth. This may im­pact fu­ture pop­u­la­tions of C. de­cisum, and could re­quire more re­search and pos­si­ble con­ser­va­tion ef­forts. (van Ap­ple­dorn, et al., 2007; van Ap­ple­dorn, et al., 2007)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Renee Mul­crone (au­thor), Spe­cial Pro­jects, An­gela Miner (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

2003. "Campeloma de­cisum" (On-line). En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Life. Ac­cessed May 29, 2013 at http://​eol.​org/​pages/​405090/​overview.

Bovb­jerg, R. 1952. Eco­log­i­cal as­pects of dis­per­sal of the snail Campeloma de­cisum. Ecol­ogy, 33/2: 169-176.

Brown, K., D. Varza, T. Richard­son. 1989. Life his­to­ries and pop­u­la­tion dy­nam­ics of two sub­trop­i­cal snails (Proso­branchia: Vi­vipari­dae). J. N. Am. Ben­thol. Soc., 8: 222-228.

Burch, J. 1989. Fresh­wa­ter snails of North Amer­ica. Ham­burg, Michi­gan: Mala­co­log­i­cal Pub­li­ca­tions.

Burch, J., Y. Jung. 1992. Fresh­wa­ter Snails of the Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan Bi­o­log­i­cal Sta­tion Area. Walk­er­ana, 6/15: 1-218.

Dil­lon, R., B. Wat­son, T. Stew­art, W. Reeves. 2006. "Campeloma de­cisum (Say 1817)" (On-line). The fresh­wa­ter gas­tropods of North Amer­ica. Ac­cessed May 29, 2013 at http://​www.​fwgna.​org/​species/​viviparidae/​c_​decisum.​html.

Great Lakes En­vi­ron­men­tal Re­search Lab­o­ra­tory, 2008. "Vi­vipari­dae" (On-line). Great Lakes water life photo gallery. Ac­cessed May 30, 2013 at http://​www.​glerl.​noaa.​gov/​seagrant/​GLWL/​Benthos/​Mollusca/​Gastropods/​Viviparidae.​html.

John­son, P. 2003. Sus­tain­ing Amer­ica's aquatic bio­di­ver­sity - Fresh­wa­ter snail bio­di­ver­sity and con­ser­va­tion. Vir­ginia Co­op­er­a­tive Ex­ten­sion, Pub­li­ca­tion no. 420-530: 1-7. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 11, 2013 at http://​pubs.​ext.​vt.​edu/​420/​420-530/​420-530.​html.

John­son, S. 1992. Spon­ta­neous and hy­brid ori­gins of partheno­gen­e­sis of Campeloma de­cisum (fresh­wa­ter proso­branch snail). Hered­ity, 58: 253-261.

John­son, S. 1992. Par­a­site-In­duced Partheno­gen­e­sis in a Fresh­wa­ter Snail: Sta­ble, Per­sis­tent Pat­terns of Par­a­sitism. Oe­colo­gia, 89/4: 533-541.

Karowe, D., T. Pearce, W. Spaller. 1993. Chem­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion in fresh­wa­ter snails: Be­hav­ioral re­sponses of Phy­sella park­eri to mu­cous trails of P. park­eri (Gas­tropoda: Pul­monata) and Campeloma de­cisum (Gas­tropoda: Proso­branchia). Mala­co­log­i­cal Re­view, 26: 9-14.

Laman, T., N. Boss, H. Blanke­spoor. 1984. Depth dis­tri­b­u­tion of seven species of gas­tropods in Dou­glas Lake, Michi­gan. Nau­tilus, 98: 20-24.

Muz­zall, P. 2000. Oc­cur­rence of San­guini­cola oc­ci­den­talis Van Cleave and Mueller, 1932 in Perca flavescens and Campeloma de­cisum from a Michi­gan Creek. Jour­nal of Par­a­sitol­ogy, 86/6: 1360-1362.

van Ap­ple­dorn, M., D. Lamb, K. Al­balak, C. Bach. 2007. Zebra mus­sels de­crease bur­row­ing abil­ity and growth of a na­tive snail, Campeloma de­cisum. Hy­dro­bi­olo­gia, 575: 441-445.