Acid trip makes clumsy cone snails miss their prey

Acid trip makes clumsy cone snails miss their prey—1 February 2017

New research from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, published in Biology Letters, reveals deadly cone snails are too clumsy to catch their prey when exposed to the levels of ocean acidification expected under predicted climate change.

“We found the carbon dioxide made the cone snails hyperactive,” says lead author Dr Sue-Ann Watson a research fellow at the Centre. “But despite moving three times faster than normal they caught fewer prey. They meandered around instead of moving by stealth and sneaking up on their prey.”

Previous work by Dr Watson has shown that behaviour of the cone snail’s prey, such as jumping snails, is altered by rising carbon dioxide levels. This new study shows that predator behaviour is affected as well.

“As the behaviour of species change under these conditions, so too can the relationship between predator and prey. The results of this study could have implications for food chains beyond cone snails and their prey.”

Image: Cone Snail at the bottom of the ocean.
Image courtesy: Sue-Ann Watson, ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies.