Zonal migration and trail‐following of an intertidal gastropod analyzed by led tracking in the field

Abstract

A new technique is described for the continuous recording of the movements of intertidal molluscs in the field. Photographic monitoring of snails equipped with LEDs powered by small batteries revealed that the prosobranch gastropod Nerita textilis adopts a hybrid (zonal‐homing) pattern including a definite trail‐following behaviour. The method allowed the study of individual feeding migrations in terms of speed and orientation of the snails at different moments of the tidal cycle. The application of the LED technique to other molluscs and nocturnal animals is discussed. Nocturnal arena tests performed to complete the field observations confirmed the presence of interindividual and self‐trailing in N. textilis but not in the related sympatric species N. plicata. The behaviour of N. textilis is compared to that of other intertidal molluscs.