Multimedia Gallery
Gastropod's Armored Shell
Illustration showing a knight attacking a gastropod with a lance, but the gastropod's iron-plated armor withstands his advance.
A recently discovered gastropod from the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent, called Crysomallon squamiferum, has an unusual shell structure superbly suited for protecting it against penetration attack. The outer layer is granular and composed of iron sulfide, and the middle layer is much thicker than other mollusks generally have. These key points could be important in mollusc-inspired vehicle or personnel armor construction.
This image accompanied NSF press release, "The Fantastic Armor of a Wonder Snail."
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, inset after Haimin Yao et al., PNAS, January 2010
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