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Interrupted Rocksnail, Leptoxis formani

Classification
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Neotaenioglossa
Family: Pleuroceridae

Species description
The interrupted rocksnail has a smooth shell that is interrupted by ridges.  Adult snails are approximately ½ inch long.

Life cycle
The interrupted rocksnail lays eggs in February.

Natural history
Until recently, the snail was thought to be extinct.  An interrupted rocksnail was found by a graduate student in 1997 in the Oostanaula River, a tributary of the Coosa River.  It was officially extinct at that time, and so no federal protection could be offered to the species.  Several rocksnails were collected in the hopes of breeding them and producing more snails to release in other areas of the Coosa River System.  No river snails had been bred in a laboratory before this time.  After four years, the first lab-born river snails were produced by the Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute.  These were released in 2003 in hopes of reintroducing the snail to the Coosa River system.  The decline of the snail is thought to have occurred because of construction and change in surrounding environments, especially the construction of dams.  The snails are important to the ecology of the river because they clean riverbeds and are prey to many larger organisms. The interrupted rocksnail requires clean rock bottoms and highly oxygenated water to survive and reproduce.  They feed on algae and bacteria on river bottoms.

Range
Historically the interrupted rocksnail was endemic to Coosa River system, but now this aquatic snail lives only in a small stretch of the Oostanaula River in Gordon and Floyd counties, Georgia.  Efforts are underway to reintroduce the snail to the wild below the Jordan Dam in Alabama.

Conservation status
The interrupted rocksnail is a federally candidate species.

Text by:
Elizabeth Reitz - GA MNH / UGA, Athens, GA

Poster Concept and Design:
Paul D. Johnson - Concept, TNARI, Cohutta, GA
Jeffrey C. Worley - Design, Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, TN