Friday 24 March 2023

Started In 2020 By The Senckenberg Society For Nature Research,

LOEWE TBG and The International Society For Mollusc Research,


photograph by Cristian Sepulveda, this years winner of the 2023 International Mollusc of the Year contest has just been announced, it is the Chilean abalone,(Concholepas concholepas), the edible mollusc, known commonly as the "loco" gained 42 percent of the global votes, despite being up against some formidable opponents, contenders included the psychedelic attractions of the Wavy BubbleSnail, (Micromelo undatus), and the giant Methuselah oyster, (Neopycnodontezibrowii), which can live for 500 years, but I have a sneaking suspicion people voted with their stomachs! the aquatic South American snail made its slow slide to victory a long list of 85,000 contenders was whittled down to five finalists that slugged it out in a public vote that ended on Sunday, because of its victory, the Chilean abalone, the “loco,” will have its genome sequenced by LOEWE BTG and the Baeza lab. Baeza said sequencing the genome of this marine snail could help scientists understand how marine invertebrates deal with heavy fishing and tolerate polluted environments at the molecular level, for the full story have a look here, so if you have a nominee for next year’s International Mollusc of the Year contest organisers say they are already accepting nominations for 2024, where to look? I will start with the back garden, well you never know!


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