This hot snail, Chrysomallon squamiferum, lives in hydrothermal vents in the deep sea, where temperatures can reach up to 400°C. And although it lives 2500 meters below the water surface, it is threatened with extinction as its habitat could soon fall victim to deep-sea mining. Luckily, a team at the the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance is working to protect these endangered animals. The researchers are assessing as many animals as possible for the Red List of the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in order to put better protection measures in place – and Chrysomallon squamiferum was the first of these unique hydrothermal vent species to be assessed.
You can check out a specimen of this hot snail in the Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt, or click through below to find a hot animal that better suits your taste!
Dive Deeper into Your Date with the Sea:
Show me the Snails
Beyond the hot snails, the Malacology sectionof the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt is doing exciting research on a diverse group of molluscs!
Dump Deep-Sea Mining
One of the major threats for hot snails like the scaly-foot, and all hydrothermal animals, is damage to their rather small, isolated habitats. And the leading cause of this habitat damage is deep sea mining. Brush up on the basics of this disturbing human activity with SOSA’s Deep Sea Mining Series on Instagram, so that you can better support these hydrothermal hotties!
We’re Pro-protection!
SOSA’s Marine Invertebrates Red List Authority (MIRLA), is a group responsible for coordinating the assessments and reassessments of marine invertebrates for the Red List. This year, one of the group’s focus areas is assessing various marine invertebrate animals that live on hydrothermal vents.
At the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart is leading research on hydrothermal vent snails, as well as coordinating SOSA’s Marine Invertebrates Red List Authority (MIRLA), a group responsible for coordinating the assessments and reassessments of marine invertebrates for the Red List.
