James St. John, USA
Info
Babylonia japonica, the Japanese Tower Snail, does not enter the aquarium trade, but is sold in Japanese markets and seafood restaurants.
The technical literature (Gift-Tiere und ihre Waffen, Springer-Verlag) reports on page 23 that the snail is classified as passive-toxic.
Collected for food purposes, sold as a specialty, and classified as passive-toxic.
Neosurugatoxin (NSTX) has been extracted from Babylonia japonica in addition to prosurugatoxin, which causes visual disturbances, numbness of the lips, severe thirst, speech disorders, and slowing of digestive activity.
Suruga Bay, a bay on the Pacific coast of Honshu Island in Japan, appears to play a special role in terms of classification as passive-toxic.
- Non-poisonous snails, after living in Suruga Bay for a time, became inedible
- Toxic snails from Suruga Bay lost their toxicity after being transplanted to other waters for a few months
From this it could be deduced that the snails are not the producers of the toxin, but a coryneobacterium (Lyngbya majoscula), which the snails ingested through a seaweed that is on their menu, and stored in their bodies for a while.
In other marine zones without this seagrass infested by this cyanobacterium, the snails do not ingest new toxin and lose the toxin over time.
Synonym: Eburna japonica Reeve, 1842
The technical literature (Gift-Tiere und ihre Waffen, Springer-Verlag) reports on page 23 that the snail is classified as passive-toxic.
Collected for food purposes, sold as a specialty, and classified as passive-toxic.
Neosurugatoxin (NSTX) has been extracted from Babylonia japonica in addition to prosurugatoxin, which causes visual disturbances, numbness of the lips, severe thirst, speech disorders, and slowing of digestive activity.
Suruga Bay, a bay on the Pacific coast of Honshu Island in Japan, appears to play a special role in terms of classification as passive-toxic.
- Non-poisonous snails, after living in Suruga Bay for a time, became inedible
- Toxic snails from Suruga Bay lost their toxicity after being transplanted to other waters for a few months
From this it could be deduced that the snails are not the producers of the toxin, but a coryneobacterium (Lyngbya majoscula), which the snails ingested through a seaweed that is on their menu, and stored in their bodies for a while.
In other marine zones without this seagrass infested by this cyanobacterium, the snails do not ingest new toxin and lose the toxin over time.
Synonym: Eburna japonica Reeve, 1842
