Temperature relationships of some tropical Pacific intertidal gastropods

✍ Scribed by G. J. Vermeij

• Book ID: 104743409
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1971
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 676 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00368090

✦ Synopsis

Tissue and environmental-temperature measurements were made using thermistors in Hawaii, Guam, Palau and Singapore in the summer of 4970. Limpets have a very limited abiIity to regulate body temperature, and several species possessed tissue temperatures greater than those of the substratum. Some neritids and the troehid Monodonta [abio possessed tissue temperatures as much as 2.2 ~ to 2.8 ~ below substratum temperature. Littorinids attached by a mucus film to the substratum were found to have relatively lower body temperatures than those attached by the foot. Among neritids there is a tendency for high intertidal species to be better temperature regulators than low intertidal species. A very important factor in the temperature regulation of intertidal snails appears to be the extent of the area of contact between the animal and the substratum, which is greatest in limpets and least (negligible) in littorinids. Evaporative cooling and light coloration of the shell play a role in certain species and groups.