''Vitta usnea'' is a species of

freshwater snail Freshwater snails are gastropod mollusks which live in fresh water. There are many different families. They are found throughout the world in various habitats, ranging from ephemeral pools to the largest lakes, and from small seeps and springs ...

with an operculum, an aquatic

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk in the family Neritidae, the nerites.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Vitta usnea (Röding, 1798). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=865835 on 2021-09-27

Distribution

''Vitta usnea'', (

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

olive nerite) is a euryhaline organism living at salinities ranging from 0 to 19 ppt. It feeds on epiphytic and epibenthic algae. It ranges from north Florida on the Atlantic Coast through the coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to Trinidad (Russell, 1941). ''Vitta usnea'' lives in shallow protected bays from just above high water to approximately 1.5 meters in depth where it is found on sea grasses, emergent marsh plants, rocks, and stumps. It is known to climb up marsh grass blades at high tide to avoid predators. One such predator is the blue crab, ''Callinectes sapidus''.

Life cycle

The life span is 3–5 years in an

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

Human use

This species is used as

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

-eating snail among freshwater aquarists. In an aquarium, the shell of this species grows 1.3-2.5 cm. This snail prefers an aquarium temperature of 22.2-25.6 °C.

References

* Eichhorst T.E. (2016). Neritidae of the world. Volume 2. Harxheim: Conchbooks. pp. 696–1366

External links

Röding, P.F. (1798). Museum Boltenianum sive Catalogus cimeliorum e tribus regnis naturæ quæ olim collegerat Joa. Fried Bolten, M. D. p. d. per XL. annos proto physicus Hamburgensis. Pars secunda continens Conchylia sive Testacea univalvia, bivalvia & multivalvia. Trapp, Hamburg. viii, 199 pp

Morelet, A. (1849). Testacea novissima insulae Cubanae et Americae Centralis, Pars I. Paris: Baillière. 31 pp

Reeve, L. A. (1855-1856). Monograph of the genus Neritina. In: Conchologia Iconica, or, illustrations of the shells of molluscous animals, vol. 9, pls 1-37 and unpaginated text. L. Reeve & Co., London.

Adams, C. B. (1851). Descriptions of new freshwater shells which inhabit Jamaica. Contributions to Conchology. 9: 174-175

Czaja, A.; Meza-Sánchez, I. G.; Estrada-Rodríguez, J. L.; Romero-Méndez, U.; Sáenz-Mata, J.; Ávila-Rodríguez, V.; Becerra-López, J. L.; Estrada-Arellano, J. R.; Cardoza-Martínez, G. F.; Aguillón-Gutiérrez, D. R.; Cordero-Torres, D. G.; Covich, A. P. (2020). The freshwater snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Mexico: updated checklist, endemicity hotspots, threats and conservation status. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. 91: e912909
Neritidae Gastropods described in 1798 {{Neritidae-stub