FURTHER STUDIES ON THE ANAEROBIC METABOLISM OF SOME FRESH WATER SNAILS

¹ Federal Security Agency, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Microbiological Institute, Bethesda, Maryland

1. Fresh water snails exposed to anaerobic conditions produce volatile acids which are partly. excreted into the medium and partly accumulate in the tissues.

2. The acids formed by Australorbis glasbratus and Helisoma duryi were identified by chromatographic means and crystallographic data as propionic and acetic acids.

3. While bacterial formation of these acids cannot be excluded categorically, some evidence is adduced to the effect that they may be produced by the snail tissues.

4. The evidence indicates that the species not resistant to anaerobiosis are killed primarily by the accumulation of lactic acid, while the resistant species are more tolerant to the lack of oxygen due to the fact that they accumulate in their tissues the less toxic fatty acids rather than lactic acid.

5. Most of the carbon dioxide evolved by anaerobically kept snails is of direct inorganic origin.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. R. Livingstone Invertebrate and vertebrate pathways of anaerobic metabolism: evolutionary considerations Journal of the Geological Society, February 1, 1983; 140(1): 27 - 37. [Abstract] [PDF]