The Colour Red?

[Deleted]

Hi,

I read somewhere that snails like the colour red. Is that true?

[etana]

Oh, what's your source for that, actually?

Snails are thought to have poor color sight. I'd rather think that red berries/mushrooms/fruit also are good to eat and thus smell good to snails, and that's why they gather onto them.

[Deleted]

Not sure how reliable this source is. I'm a bit sceptical.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2682420/Snails-colour-British-student-discovers-particularly-like-red-unique-experiment-landed-prize.html

[Liguus]

I'd be interested in repeating the experiment and seeing if I get the same results. Maybe I can find the actual paper online.

[Deleted]

Aug 1, 2015 12:51:20 GMT Liguus said:

I'd be interested in repeating the experiment and seeing if I get the same results. Maybe I can find the actual paper online.

I thought maybe bright red construction paper would work. I'm going to try it too. I'll post my results when I'm finished.

[Cashell]

I thought snails couldn't see colours at all, no?

[Liguus]

Aug 1, 2015 13:15:19 GMT @missjuniper said:

Aug 1, 2015 12:51:20 GMT Liguus said:

I'd be interested in repeating the experiment and seeing if I get the same results. Maybe I can find the actual paper online.

I thought maybe bright red construction paper would work. I'm going to try it too. I'll post my results when I'm finished.

Oh, I meant the scientific paper that goes into the details of the experiment instead of just an article about it.

[Deleted]

LOL, my bad.

[etana]

Aug 1, 2015 12:51:20 GMT Liguus said:

I'd be interested in repeating the experiment and seeing if I get the same results. Maybe I can find the actual paper online.

If you find it, I'll be interested in it as well. I too want to repeat it, too bad I don't really have the equipment. It's a curious finding!

[Evan]

That's interesting.

[sparrow]

Well, I don't know if this qualifies, but my little ambersnail prefers sweet red pepper to yellow or green.
I also find she is attracted more to the orange coloured fruits and veggies (except for the Romaine where she likes to hang out)

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2015 18:04:28 GMT sparrow said:

Well, I don't know if this qualifies, but my little ambersnail prefers sweet red pepper to yellow or green.
I also find she is attracted more to the orange coloured fruits and veggies (except for the Romaine where she likes to hang out)

That's cool!

I'm experimenting later today so I hope y'all are interested in what I might find.

[Liguus]

I was just thinking that maybe some snails can differentiate colors like red in order to help them find reddish colored food items like berries which may be less common than greens in their environment.

[etana]

Aug 2, 2015 20:13:54 GMT Liguus said:

I was just thinking that maybe some snails can differentiate colors like red in order to help them find reddish colored food items like berries which may be less common than greens in their environment.

Yeah...plus they do seem to know where to blend in, my giant snails at least find and attach to surfaces surprisingly close to their own shell colours when they want to sleep. I always thought it was impressive for a creature that's supposed to be color-blind.

[Deleted]

Well, I didn't discover anything ground breaking with my little experiment.

I put all my snails in a container and held a really bright red light to one side of the container. They crawled toward that light that time. Then, I turned the container so that they were facing a different direction. They turned around toward the light again which was pretty cool. Not sure if it proves anything.

[sparrow]

Aug 2, 2015 20:33:18 GMT etana said:

Aug 2, 2015 20:13:54 GMT Liguus said:

I was just thinking that maybe some snails can differentiate colors like red in order to help them find reddish colored food items like berries which may be less common than greens in their environment.

Yeah...plus they do seem to know where to blend in, my giant snails at least find and attach to surfaces surprisingly close to their own shell colours when they want to sleep. I always thought it was impressive for a creature that's supposed to be color-blind.

I think all living creatures can differentiate colours to a degree and I also agree they seem to hide in plain sight with relative ease. Granted, I don't have any giant snails, but I even had trouble finding Snagglepuss from time to time.
I can finally see Samuka at night - all 2 cm of her!

[cryptophage]

There is a little more info here - www.zsl.org/sites/default/files/media/2014-07/ZSL%20Awards%20Citations_17%20June%202014.pdf

It would be interesting to repeat the experiment with various intensities of red light, to be sure that the snails' behaviour is a result of being able to see colour, and not simply due to varying numbers of light receptors at different parts of the spectrum.

[Zorst]

Well I have my chick brooder next to my big snail tank and that has a heat lamp in it with a red bulb. My big tank is huge as it used to be home to some very large lizards before I got it. But I will say that even with there own heat mats working well the snails are all on the side of the tank nearest to the Chick brooder with the red light.

Ok this isn't a very scientific test or anything but this has been going on for a few weeks now and the temp in there tank is normal and stable, so I can only put it down to the fact that its the light that has attracted them.

Zorst

[sparrow]

Aug 3, 2015 22:50:44 GMT cryptophage said:

There is a little more info here - www.zsl.org/sites/default/files/media/2014-07/ZSL%20Awards%20Citations_17%20June%202014.pdf

It would be interesting to repeat the experiment with various intensities of red light, to be sure that the snails' behaviour is a result of being able to see colour, and not simply due to varying numbers of light receptors at different parts of the spectrum.

Nice find: "Repetitions of the experiment ensured that a robust data set was produced, which Carly analysed with the use of statistical tests. The results indicate that Helix aspera move towards red light more frequently than other colours, and that the purple light was rarely preferential."

Since red absorbs and generates more heat than all other colours (except black), perhaps the snail is actually responding to the heat rather than the actual visual color. ()

[Deleted]

Hmm, that's a good hypothesis.

I remember a few months ago, I had red paper that I used in a project and I stored it behind my snail tank. They all slept in the corner that the red paper was on and when I removed the paper, everyone spread out in the tank again. Strange isn't it?

[slimyrascal]

In nature, red-shifted tends to occur in shadows, maybe that is why snails prefer it.

[mangoandlemon]

Interesting.