Dog Whelks on a mattress of barnacles on a rocky seashore feasting on the flesh of their unlucky prey.
How the Dog Whelk will get its dinner could seem to some to be fairly grotesque for the unlucky prey concerned, however it’s notably efficient from the predator’s perspective.
The phrase ‘dog’ is usually used as an insult to demean a person. In the naming of vegetation and animals ‘dog’ is used to indicate a perceived decrease high quality or standing, for instance, a wild dogrose versus a beautifully-cultivated backyard rose.
The Dog Whelk is a small sea snail associated to the Whelk, that giant, edible marine mollusc that’s fished commercially in baited containers round many components of the Irish shoreline. The wealthy and flavoursome meat is usually exported as whereas it’s wanted by overseas seafood fanatics, it’s a bit chewy and rubbery for Irish tastes.
The Dog Whelk is quite common on the shores of rocky coasts throughout Ireland and is certain to be present in areas the place barnacles and mussels happen. It’s arduous, stony shell is as much as 4cm tall and is available in a variety of colors both uniform or in bands relying on the snail’s weight loss program. Consequently, shells are extremely variable in each color and diploma of banding.
Irrespective of the looks of their shells all Dog Whelks feed in the identical approach. A hungry snail selects a barnacle, mussel, limpet or different shell of its alternative. The predator has a lot of methods of getting via the arduous shell of its prey.
The protecting plates closing the opening in a barnacle’s shell can generally to prised aside with brute power. If that doesn’t work the snail can secrete a shell-softening chemical and use its tooth to grind a gap.
Once it has gained entry, the snail makes use of its entry level to pour a combination of paralysing chemical compounds and digestive enzymes into its prey. The barnacle is rendered defenceless, and the enzymes go to work breaking down its physique. When digestion is full, the snail makes use of its highly effective tongue to suck up the nourishing soup of digested flesh.
It is a gradual course of taking as much as a day’s work to course of a barnacle and maybe as much as every week to deal with a big mussel. In the meantime, birds like Oystercatcher are preying on the Dog Whelks utilizing their lengthy payments to extract delicate our bodies from arduous shells.
The circle of life unfolds on a regular basis on a rocky seashore.
