Littorines and their relatives feed on various plant matter, including diatoms, algal sporlings, microalgae and macroalgae, lichens, and detritus.  The following articles are arranged by genera. Batillaria spp., Epitonium spp., and Lacuna spp. are considered in this section, while LITTORINA SPP. are considered in another section

The mud-snail Batillaria attramentaria is an herbivorous, detritus-eating species that is common in mud-flats from mid- to high-intertidal heights.  During low-tide periods it burrows through the surface sediments and often buries itself head-first, or fashions a smooth-sided pit, perhaps as protection from desiccation.  Swinbanks & Murray 1981 Sedimentology 28: 201.

NOTE  several batillariids, including zonalis, are now grouped into the single species attramentaria

Wenteltraps Epitonium tinctum and E. indianorum eat tentacles of sea anemones.  The former species seems to specialise on Anthopleura spp. and the latter on Urticina spp., but neither does this exclusively.  The proboscis is quite long and reaches out to enclose the tentacle end within the buccal cavity.  The radula then snips off the end portion.  Bites can also be made along the length of the tentacle.  Wenteltraps secrete a purple substance from the hypobranchial gland that is shown in preparations of frog sciatic nerves to have toxicity.  Y-apparatus choice tests show highly significant distance selection by Epitonium tinctum for Anthopleura elegantissima (84% prefer the anemone-side of the Y-apparatus to 16% for the empty side) and A. xanthogrammica (88% vs. 12%), both of which are in the snail’s intertidal distributional range, but also for Urticina lofotensis (78 vs. 22) and Epiactis prolifera(80 vs. 20), neither of which are likely to be encountered by Epitonium in the field.  Seawater passing over plumose anemones Metridium senile seems to be actively avoided (12 vs. 88), and the snails are indifferent to the corallimorpharian Corynactis californica (60 vs. 40).  Smith 1977 Veliger 19: 331; other observations from Salo 1977 Veliger 20: 168. Photograph courtesy Linda Schroeder, Pacific Northwest Shell Club, Seattle, Washington PNWSC.

A wenteltrap shell Epitonium tinctum sitting on,
and perhaps feeding on, several aggregating
anemones Anthopleura elegantissima

Lacuna spp.

Species of lacunid snails Lacuna in San Juan Islands, Washington feed on epiphytic algae, such as that growing on kelp and eelgrass.  As in other grazing gastropods, rows of cusps are worn and shed anteriorly while constantly being produced in the radula sac posteriorly.  Radula production is therefore in dynamic equilibrium.  An individual will replace its entire radula several times over its lifetime depending upon the length of the radula and its rate of wear.  Researchers at Friday Harbor Laboratories, Washington use a method of cold-shocking the whole animal to mark the radula in situ, enabling estimates to be made of radula replacement rates on later dissection.  Results for Lacuna vincta and L. variegata reveal similar replacement rates of 2.9 and 3.0 cusp rows ^. d^-1, respectively.  However, owing in part to differences in total lengths of radulae within each species (47-94 cusp rows in L. vincta and 53-99 in L. variegata), replacement rates for the entire radula differ significantly, from an average of 3.5wk in vincta to 3wk in variegata.  Padilla et al. 1996 J Moll Stud 62: 275. Photograph courtesy Linda Schroeder, Pacific Northwest Shell Club, Seattle, Washington PNWSC.

NOTE  the method involves immersing a snail in seawater of -1^oC for 48h.  This disrupts cusp formation, leaving an easily observed mark on later dissection

NOTE  the results given here are combined data for males and females, as no significant differences are found between them

As noted above the radulae of Lacuna variegata and L. vincta in San Juan Islands, Washington are replaced at a rate of about 3 cusp rows ^. d^-1, with complete replacement of a radula taking 3-4wk.  If snails are allowed to graze for 8wk on epiphytes growing on kelp and eelgrass, a remarkable transformation in cusp morphology occurs.  The snails on kelp develop more pointed cusps (upper photo on Left), while the ones on eelgrass develop more blunt cusps (lower photo on Left). Although only changes in radula form in L. variegata are illustrated here, similar results are found for L. vincta. The change is abrupt and no intermediate morphologies are found.  The interesting thing is that the new cusp morphology is, of course, produced at the posterior end of the radula, and is physically distant from the cusps in use at the time.  The authors remark that radula morphology in gastropods is commonly used as a species identifier, and so a demonstration that this morphology is actually plastic and may vary with the type of food is certain to create questions about its usefulness as a taxonomic tool.  This is the first demonstration that the form of a radula cusp in a snail is phenotypically plastic and that changes are inducible in the adult state. Whether an induced morphology is more functionally effective for a particular alga is not known, nor is the proximal cause of the change known. Padilla 1998 Veliger 41: 201. Photograph courtesy N. Elder & Linda Schroeder, Pacific Northwest Shell Club, Seattle, Washington PNWSC.

NOTE  this could be a type of proprio-receptive signal from mechanical differences in rasping, or a chemical signal originating from the food after consumption

This photograph shows that an epithelial layer
of kelp is being consumed by the resident Lacuna,
perhaps along with any epiphytes growing on it