PANAMA CITY, Panama, Dec. 27 (UPI) — Tropical snails called slipper limpets, Crepidula marginalis, begin life male and switch their sex as they grow. New research suggests physical contact is key in dictating when slipper snails make the transition.
It makes sense that snails would become females as they grow in size. Because it requires more energy to produce eggs than sperm, larger snails will be more successful as females while smaller snails can still produce plenty of sperm.
But how do snails decide when they’ve gotten big enough to take on life as a female?
Researchers found that the larger of two males living together — with the ability to make physical contact — became female sooner than the larger of two snails kept separate and untouched. Likewise, the smaller of the two snails remained male for longer when allowed to touch and be touched.
The findings, published in The Biological Bulletin, prove the importance of touch in letting a snail know it is big enough for a sex change.
“I was blown away by this result,” study co-author Rachel Collin, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, said in a press release. “I fully expected that the snails would use waterborne cues to see their world.”
Male slipper limpets have relatively large penises, which protrude from the side of the snails head and grow long enough to reach around the entirety of the female’s body. As the limpets transition from male to female, the penis gradually shrinks as female organs develop.
Now, researchers know this change is dictated by touch.
“Slipper snails don’t move around much, so you don’t really think of them having complex reactions to each other,” Collin said. “But this study shows that there is more going on there than we thought.”
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