Trail-Producing Behavior of Oliva Sayana (Gastropoda) in the Lower Foreshore at Bogue Banks, North Carolina

Abstract

Olive snails living on a very low-gradient, fine to medium sand substrate in the lower foreshore at Pine Knoll Shores produced two kinds of surface trail. Most olives made short, straight to slightly curved trails only a few 10's-of-cm's long, then dived below the surface pushing up a crescent-shaped pressure ridge of sand ahead of the shell.  A few snails, however, including some that were experimentally exhumed, prolonged their surface exposure and produced elaborate trails > 100 cm in length.