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Upside-Down Gliding of Lymnaea ^*

Kanako Aono^1,, Ayachika Fusada^1,, Yorichika Fusada^1,, Wataru Ishii^1,, Yuji Kanaya^1,, Mami Komuro^1,, Kanae Matsui^1,, Satoru Meguro^1,, Ayumi Miyamae^1,, Yurie Miyamae^1,, Aya Murata^1,, Shizuka Narita^1,, Hiroe Nozaka^1,, Wakana Saito^1,, Ayumi Watanabe^1,, Kaori Nishikata¹, Akira Kanazawa², Yutaka Fujito³, Miki Yamagishi⁴, Takashi Abe⁵, Masafumi Nagayama⁵, Tsutomu Uchida⁵, Kazutoshi Gohara⁵, Ken Lukowiak⁶ and Etsuro Ito^4,

¹ Biology Club, Hokkaido Sapporo Okadama High School, 2-chome, Kitaokadama 1-jo, Higashi-ku, Sapporo 007-0881, Japan
² Biology Laboratory, Hokkaido Science Education Center, 7-chome, Miyanomori 4-jo, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 064-0954, Japan
³ Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Minami 1-jo, Nishi 17-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-8556, Japan
⁴ Laboratory of Functional Biology, Kagawa School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, 1314-1 Shido, Sanuki 769-2193, Japan
⁵ Division of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13-jo, Nishi 8-chome, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
⁶ Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: eito{at}kph.bunri-u.ac.jp

The pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis can often be observed moving upside down on its back just below the surface of the water. We have termed this form of movement "upside-down gliding." To elucidate the mechanism of this locomotion, we performed a series of experiments involving behavioral analyses and microscopic observations. These experiments were designed (1) to measure the speed of this locomotion; (2) to determine whether the mucus secreted from the foot of Lymnaea repels water, thereby allowing the snail to exploit the surface tension of the water for upside-down gliding; and (3) to observe the beating of foot cilia in this behavior. The beating of these cilia is thought to be the primary driving force for upside-down gliding. Our results demonstrate that upside-down gliding is an efficient active process involving the secretion of mucus that floats up to the water surface to serve as a substrate upon which cilia beat to cause locomotion at the underside of the water surface.

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