Stunning sea snail scoops mollusc of the year!
A large, carnivorous limpet with a heavy shell has just scooped the award for International Mollusc of the Year 2023.
The Chilean Abalone sea snail has been crowned the public's favourite mollusc due to its cultural significance in its native Chile and Peru, and special cancer-fighting characteristics. Taking around 42 per cent of the international votes, it beat stiff competition from another sea snail, a deep-sea oyster and two soft-bodied molluscs to take the coveted top spot.
Launched in 2020 by the Senckenberg Museum, the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG) and the International Society for Mollusc Research (Unitas Malacologica) the International Mollusc of the Year competition aims to raise awareness of the enormous biodiversity of molluscs and the threats they face.
"We are getting closer to our goal of publicly showing the enormous biodiversity of molluscs and arousing enthusiasm for these often underestimated organisms."
The Chilean abalone (Concholepas concholepas) was nominated for the title by associate professor Antonio Baeza. He conducts research on biodiversity, evolution, and conservation of marine organisms at the Department of Biological Sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina, USA.
As the winning species of the competition, the marine snail will receive a complete sequencing of its genome by the LOEWE Centre TBG.
"With the Chilean Abalone, a mollusc was selected that is interesting to study in several respects. On the one hand, the species has to adapt to adverse conditions such as exploitation and marine pollution; in addition, a component of its blood, the oxygen transporter haemocyanin, also shows an immunotherapeutic effect against some types of cancer," explained jury member Dr Carola Greve, laboratory manager at the LOEWE TBG Centre.
"So the genomic analysis can not only help to explore adaptation strategies and different populations in the large distribution area, but also to discover new molecules with pharmaceutical importance."
What is a Chilean abalone?
The Chilean abalone or Peruvian tolina, also known as ‘loco’ - a loanword from the Mapuche people in Chile, is a species of large edible sea snail. It is often found living among holdfasts in kelp forests or in encrusting communities composed of mussels or barnacles.
It is a top predator in the communities where it lives, and is considered one of several keystone species controlling the abundance of other species. The loco has been used as food by humans since pre-Columbian times. It has experienced over exploitation for more than half a century, and some populations inhabit heavily polluted coastal areas.
Why is the loco important?
The loco plays important cultural, social, economic, evolutionary and ecological roles in Chile and Peru. On a scientific level, studying the loco's genome (genetic material) can help further our understanding of how marine invertebrates deal, at a molecular level, with heavy fishing and tolerate polluted environments.
Plus, the Chilean abalone's blood has immunotherapeutic effects against some types of cancer. Interrogating its genome could help in the battle against cancer.
Out of a total of 4,309 votes cast from all over the world, the Chilean abalone received a whopping 1,798 votes. In second place was the wavy bubble snail (Micromelo undatus) with 970 votes. The giant deep-sea oyster (Neopycnodonte zibrowii) received 745 votes and the giant sea slug (Hermissenda crassicornis) received 485 votes. The poor leopard snail (Limax maximus) - the only terrestrial mollusk among the nominated species - was chosen a mere 311 times.
"We are very pleased that so many interested people from all over the world have once again taken part in the competition. Our heartfelt thanks go to those researchers and mollusc lovers who nominated such special species," said ProfessorJulia Sigwart, section head of the department of malacology at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt.
"Together, we are getting closer to our goal of publicly showing the enormous biodiversity of molluscs and arousing enthusiasm for these often underestimated organisms, many of which perform important tasks in their respective ecosystems. Therefore, we also want to convey how important their protection is," she added.