Snail Surprises
Saturday-Sunday, May 24-25, 2025
Snail Surprises
Today’s special animal friend is the marsh periwinkle, Littorina irrorate. This small sea snail is found in coastal salt marshes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America as well as coastal Ireland. The largest specimen of this marine gastropod had a shell length of 1.15 inches. Their shells are thick and spiraling, with a pointed but not truly sharp spire. The shell color is grayish white or tan, but they often look green because of the algae or lichen growing on them.
An essential element of many marsh ecosystems, the marsh periwinkle is strongly associated with Spartina alterniflora, saltmarsh cordgrass. The snails feed on algae and general marsh detritus on the ground and on stalks of grass. However, they also cultivate fungi as a food crop. They create injuries to the epidermal cells of the grass blades which allow the grass to be infected by fungi. The snails deposit waste into the wounds, as if spreading manure on a garden. This increases the growth of the fungi. High in nitrogen and other nutrients, the fungal hyphae are the ideal food to maximize the survival rate of young snails.
Marsh periwinkles are gilled snails, so they breath in the water. They are very resistant to temperature change and can withdraw deep into their shells, along with water, when exposed to heat or dryness. They lay eggs in the water in the spring. The eggs hatch into free-swimming larvae, which develop into small snails by summer.
Predators of marsh periwinkles include blue crabs, terrapins, clapper rails, and raccoons. It is theorized that they can smell blue crabs in the water, and this causes them to climb up the stalks of marsh grass. In environments with significant predator populations, they will grow thicker shells with a smaller aperture, frustrating a predator, who may drop the snail unharmed.
Marsh periwinkles are vulnerable to water pollution, especially major events such as oil spills. More generally, loss of salt marsh habitat throughout there range results in population declines. There has not been a lot of study of their population trends, but some research is being done by state natural resources agencies.
Good morning, everyone. Son F is up and moaning, because I opened the door and turned the light on, and his roomie, Vlad, griped at him. His friend is coming to get him at 8:00.
It doesn't look as though the Mothership is going to have a religion article this morning, so I'll offer some Sunday content here at the interwebs' leading publication.
Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte announced this week that the Diocese will have a single, dedicated location for the celebration of the "Traditional Latin Mass," a form of liturgy superseded by the reforms following the Second Vatican Council. It's important to note that the "TLM" is a whole liturgical complex, including having its own calendar, not simply holding Mass in the Latin language. A priest can celebrate Mass in Latin any time, if he has the language skill, just as he can celebrate Mass in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, or Polish, depending on the needs of congregants under his care.
https://catholicnewsherald.com/90-news/local/11679-latin-mass
The changes to the rules for the TLM were promulgated by Pope Francis in 2021, and the Diocese of Charlotte did a "transitional" compliance in 2023. Our now-retired Bishop Jugis was very ill at this point, so I expect the Vatican-approved delay was partly because he simply didn't have the energy to work on the real estate issue. It may also have partly been in sympathy with the spirit of staying in the past. I know quite a few of the TLM adherents, at least casually, and I know Bishop Jugis and some of his functionaries were close with them. But that is neither here nor there.
There is much wailing and gnashing going on among this cohort, including claims that the "Mass of the Ages" is being "suppressed" or "cancelled," as well as petitions going up the chain toward Rome. I sympathize with the people to some extent. If there had been an instruction from the Vatican or the Bishop that all services were to be in Latin, or that we couldn't have any in Spanish, or "no guitars," or something else that substantially impacted our experience of the liturgy, I'd be upset. However, one thing about being Catholic is accepting that the hierarchy has the authority to make these decisions.
In my opinion, the TLM "community" is effectively a separatist church, declaring themselves to be the True Catholics, literally "more Catholic than the Pope." Another word for that is "Protestant." It's ironic that the facility the Diocese has purchased and is renovating for their use was formerly used by a Protestant congregation. The TLM spokespeople find this scandalous, but I think it's spot-on.