RESEARCHERS UNCOVER A TINY REEF BUILDING GASTROP IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
Scientists discovered several years ago by a genetic study that worm snails or worm shells Dendropoma petraeum, distributed throughout the Mediterranean area, and considered a threatened species, were actually four cryptic species (morphologically similar but genetically different) distributed in different sub-basins in this sea.
- The new species D. Lebeche. Scale bars: 2mm
Dendropoma lebeche is the new species described by spanish researchers in the journal Mediterranean Marine Science. This mollusk filtered seawater and form very resistant bioconstructions that provide habitat for other sea organisms, protect the coastline and now helps researchers in determine variations in the sea level that occurred in the last eight millennia.
This gastropod attaches itself to the substrate through its irregular shell. It is a gregarious species that forms large colonies of individuals stuck together and compacted by calcareous algae, creating structures with various shapes, such as ridges, flanges, hubs and even microarrecifes bordering the coastal rocky platforms.
Bioconstrucciones formed by the new species Dendropoma lebeche in Cabo de Palos, Murcia by José Templado.
Reference: Templado et al. 2016 Reef building Mediterranean vermetid gastropods: disentangling the Dendropoma petraeum species complex". Mediterranean Marine Science.