Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The three-ridge val­vata, Val­vata tri­car­i­nata, is a fresh­wa­ter snail found in North Amer­i­can drainages, mainly from the north­ern United States from Vir­ginia, west to Arkansas and north through Canada. Dis­junct pop­u­la­tions have been found in the Co­lum­bia River drainage in the west­ern United States. West­ern pop­u­la­tions have not been eval­u­ated to see if they are the same species or in­tro­duced. ("Val­vata tri­car­i­nata", 2003; Foltz, 2013)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Val­vata tri­car­i­nata is found in al­most all peren­nial water habi­tats, in­clud­ing large and small lakes, and large and small rivers. In a north­ern Michi­gan pop­u­la­tion, peak den­si­ties were found at ap­prox­i­mately 10 and 12.5 feet. This snail has also been found in tran­sient beach pools on the Great Lakes. Found in a va­ri­ety of sed­i­ments, V. tri­car­i­nata is usu­ally by aquatic veg­e­ta­tion. Egg cases have been found at­tached to Pota­moge­ton, Chara, and Sagit­taria species or to float­ing ob­jects. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Foltz, 2013; Fur­row, 1935; Pace, et al., 1979)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• freshwater

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams
• temporary pools

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Val­vata tri­car­i­nata is 4.5 to 5.5 mm in di­am­e­ter, and the shell mor­phol­ogy can vary over its range. With 4 1/2 to 5 whorls, the dex­tral (spi­ral­ing to the right) shell usu­ally has three spi­ral ridges. 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 many spi­rals which in­crease very slowly in width and is thin, flat and slightly con­cave. The soft part of the an­i­mal is usu­ally black­ish, ex­cept for the last third of the body whorl. The foot has white mar­gins and is short, wide, and rounded be­hind. The ten­ta­cles are long, slen­der, pointed and black. Pal­lial ten­ta­cles (pos­te­rior ten­ta­cles) and the gill pro­trude from the shell. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Range length

  4.5 to 5.5 mm

  0.18 to 0.22 in

De­vel­op­ment

Eggs of V. tri­car­i­nata mea­sure 0.25 mm by 0.37 m. Four to eigh­teen eggs are de­posited in a green gela­tio­nous cap­sule, and have taken 12 to 15 days to hatch in July and Au­gust. Under sum­mer con­di­tions, time from fer­til­iza­tion to ma­tu­rity may take up to four months. (Fur­row, 1935)

Re­pro­duc­tion

There is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion avail­able about the mat­ing habits of Val­vata tri­car­i­nata. This species is her­maph­ro­ditic and mates dur­ing the warmer months of the year. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989)

Val­vata tri­car­i­nata usu­ally pro­duces sperm cells first, then eggs, as a her­maph­ro­ditic species. Four to eigh­teen eggs (av­er­age ten) are de­posited in a green­ish cap­sule on plants or float­ing ob­jects. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989; Fur­row, 1935)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• seasonal breeding
• simultaneous hermaphrodite
• oviparous

• Breeding season

  Valvata tricarinata mates during the warmer months of the year.

• Range number of offspring

  4 to 18

• Average number of offspring

  10

There is no parental care after egg cap­sules are laid, though the egg cap­sules do rep­re­sent an en­ergy in­vest­ment by the par­ent. (Burch, 1989; Fur­row, 1935)

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Mem­bers of the genus Val­vata may live up to two years. (Foltz, 2013)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  2 (high) years

Be­hav­ior

Max­i­mum den­si­ties in a north­ern Michi­gan pop­u­la­tion were recorded at ap­prox­i­mately 30 snails per square meter and 50 snails per square meter at depths of 10 and 12 feet, re­spec­tively. Val­vata tri­car­i­nata is usu­ally found by aquatic veg­e­ta­tion. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Pace, et al., 1979)

• Key Behaviors
• motile
• sedentary

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

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

• Communication Channels
• tactile
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Aquatic gas­tropods in gen­eral graze on algae, scrap­ing sur­faces with its radula. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • algivore

• Plant Foods
• algae

Pre­da­tion

Fresh­wa­ter snails in gen­eral are preyed upon by fish, water birds, and cray­fish. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989)

• Known Predators

  • fish, Actinopterygii
  • birds, Aves
  • crayfish, Astacoidea

Ecosys­tem Roles

In gen­eral, fresh­wa­ter snails graze on algae and are prey items for fish, water birds, and cray­fish. Fresh­wa­ter snails are also often in­ter­me­di­ate hosts for trema­todes. (Burch and Jung, 1992; Burch, 1989)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

There are no known pos­i­tive ef­fects of Val­vata tri­car­i­nata on hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Val­vata tri­car­i­nata on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Val­vata tri­car­i­nata does not cur­rently have any con­ser­va­tion sta­tus.

• IUCN Red List

  Data Deficient

• 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. "Val­vata tri­car­i­nata" (On-line). En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Life. Ac­cessed May 16, 2013 at http://​eol.​org/​pages/​456135/​overview.

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.

Cordeiro, J., K. Ju­rist. 2013. "Val­vata tri­car­nata" (On-line). Na­ture Serve Ex­plorer. Ac­cessed Sep­tem­ber 25, 2013 at www.​natureserve.​org.

Dil­lon, R., B. Wat­son, T. Stew­art, W. Reeves. 2006. "Val­vata tri­car­nata (Say 1817)" (On-line). The fresh­wa­ter gas­tropods of North Amer­ica. Ac­cessed June 26, 2013 at http://​www.​fwgna.​org/​species/​valvatidae/​v_​tricarinata.​html.

Foltz, S. 2013. "Con­ser­va­tion Plan­ning Doc­u­ments, Species Fact Sheets, Snails and Slugs (Gas­tropoda): Val­vata tri­car­i­nata, Three ridge val­vata" (On-line). U.S. For­est Ser­vice, In­ter­a­gency Spe­cial Sta­tus /Sen­si­tive Species Pro­gram (ISSSSP). Ac­cessed June 28, 2013 at http://​www.​fs.​fed.​us/​r6/​sfpnw/​issssp/​planning-documents/​species-guides.​shtml.

Fur­row, C. 1935. De­vel­op­ment of the her­maph­ro­dite gen­i­tal or­gans of Val­vata tri­car­i­nata. Cell and Tis­sue Re­search, 22/3: 282-304.

Ger­aerts, W., J. Joosse. 1984. Fresh­wa­ter snails (Ba­som­matophora). Pp. 141-207 in A Tompa, N Ver­donk, J van den Bigge­laar, eds. The Mol­lusca, Vol. 7, re­pro­duc­tion. Lon­don: Aca­d­e­mic Press, Inc.

Pace, G., E. Szuch, R. Dap­son. 1979. Depth dis­tri­b­u­tion of three gas­tropods in New Mis­sion Bay, Lake Michi­gan. Nau­tilus, 93: 1-36. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 24, 2013 at http://​archive.​org/​stream/​nautilus93amer/​nautilus93amer_​djvu.​txt.