I have never heard of them,
but here they are, Platymma tweediei as it is known to its friends, was first discovered in 1938, in Telom Valley, Malaysia’s Cameron
Highlands district. Since then, it has also been spotted in Temenggor and
Kelantan, but nowhere else, photographs Max’s Exotic Garden/Facebook,
endemic
to a very specific area on the Malaysian Peninsula, the Fire Snail – named
after its bright red foot –it is one of
the rarest, most sought after snail species in the world,according to
conservationist Junn Kitt Foot, from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), the
stunning-looking snail species can only be found in a 100km radius in the
Cameron Highlands, as it only thrives in very specific conditions. Apparently
fire snails can only live in very cool, humid environments, more specifically
cloud forests – forests located high enough for clouds to form in (at least
1,000 meters above sea level),
in an article published on ResearchGate, Junn Kitt Foot reports that even within the 100km radius that makes up its habitat, the fire snail is very rarely seen. That may be because of the massive deforestation taking place in Cameron Highlands, but also because of the lucrative fire snail trade. Threads on snail raising forums suggest that the species is very popular among enthusiasts, who often resort to smuggling in order to get their hands on the rare mollusks,
unfortunately, as is the case with most
creatures endemic to cloud forest, fire snails do not survive for long when
taken out of their natural habitat, and they certainly cannot be bred in
captivity. That means that enthusiasts have no other alternative than
constantly getting new adult specimens to keep their hobby going, but in the
above photograph one can be seen with eggs,
so perhaps they can be bred in captivity? in any event if not, the fate of these strange looking snails is sealed as the native population dwindles.
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