Avoidance and escape responses of the gastropod mollusc Olivella biplicata (Sowerby) to predatory asteroids

Abstract

The sand-dwelling gastropod Olivella biplicata (Sowerby) gives two chemically-mediated defensive responses to predatory asteroids — an avoidance and an escape response. An avoidance response is triggered by water-borne chemicals diffusing from distant starfish. When snails on the surface of the sand sense a distant predatory starfish, they avoid the predator by burying themselves in the sand. Strong avoidance responses are given to the predatory asteroids Pisaster brevispinus (Stimpson), P. ochraceus (Brandt), and Pycnopodia helianthoides (Brandt). Little or no response is given to the omnivorous asteroid Patiria miniata (Brandt) or to the predatory gastropod Polinices lewisii (Gould). An escape response is given when a snail on the surface is contacted by the starfish Pisaster brevispinus. Upon contact, the snail immediately retracts the propodium, sometimes throwing the metapodium forward at the same time; the snail then turns sharply away from the point of contact, and buries itself. Both avoidance and escape responses can be observed in the field and laboratory.