Shell is tough armor: golden scale snail

1 of 1 Crysomallon squamiferum, vent snail / nders Warén.. / License

The shell of hydrothermal vent snails serves as tough armor thanks to a three-layered structure incorporating iron sulphide granules.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Maintain physical integrity >
	Protect from biotic factors >
	Animals

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Novel structural materials Protective armor Safety features in vehicles

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[Collapse all sections] Summary

"During the second ever expedition to hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, biologists spotted a snail with a strange-looking foot. Many snails can close the opening to their shell with a flat, round bit of shell called an operculum. But this snail instead protects itself with scales, a feature seen before only in long extinct species, although the vent snail itself evolved recently. Even more unusually, the scales are reinforced with the iron sulphide minerals fool's gold and greigite, giving them a golden colour. No other multicellular animal is known to use these materials." (Schrope 2005:38)

"…[T]he snail has evolved a tri-layered shell structure consisting of an outer layer embedded with iron sulfide granules, a thick organic middle layer, and a calcified inner layer. This creates a configuration in which the inner compliant layer is sandwiched between two rigid layers.

"Ortiz and her colleagues, including MIT Dean of Engineering Subra Suresh, used nanoscale experiments and computer modeling to determine the shell's structure and mechanical properties. They found that the unique three-layer structure dissipates mechanical energy, which helps the snails fend off attacks from crabs that squeeze the shell with their claws in an attempt to fracture it. The shell of the scaly-foot snail possesses a number of additional energy dissipation mechanisms compared to typical mollusk shells that are primarily composed of calcium carbonate." (Trafton 2010)

About the inspiring organism

Gastropoda
Gastropoda

Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Develop novel structural materials. Protective armor. Helmets. Vehicles.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Construction, materials science, engineering

Experts

Ortiz Laboratory
Christine Ortiz
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

References

Schrope, Mark. 2005. Deep sea special: The undiscovered oceans. New Scientist. 188(2525): 36-43.

Trafton A. 2010. Iron-plated snail could inspire new armor. MIT News [Internet],

Yao H; Dao M; Imholt T; Huang J; Wheeler K; Bonilla A; Suresh S; Ortiz C. 2010. Protection mechanisms of the iron-plated armor of a deep-sea hydrothermal vent gastropod. PNAS. 107(3): 987-992.

Shell is tough armor: golden scale snail

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