Hitchhiking snails fly from ocean to ocean
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 14:30
in Biology & Nature
Smithsonian scientists and colleagues report that snails successfully crossed Central America, long considered an impenetrable barrier to marine organisms, twice in the past million years -- both times probably by flying across Mexico, stuck to the legs or riding on the bellies of shorebirds and introducing new genes that contribute to the marine biodiversity on each coast.