BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSES OF LITTORARIA-IRRORATA (SAY) TO WATER-BORNE ODORS

Behavioral responses of the gastropod mollusc Littoraria (=Littorina) irrorata indicate that it can discriminate among environmental odors. Snails were assayed for responses to 11 odors from plants and animals potentially representing food, shelter, location in the environment, a nd predators. Crushed conspecifics were included as an alarm odor. Exc ept for odor of crushed conspecifics, all odor sources were water-born e from living intact organisms. Behavioral responses were categorized as no response, positive response, or negative response. For some anal yses, negative responses were subdivided into withdrawing and turning responses. Snails responded positively to several plant odors. They di d not respond to odors of intact conspecifics, fiddler crabs, or grass shrimp. They responded negatively to odors of a plant found at the up per limit of their minimal habitat, predatory blue crabs, crushed cons pecifics, predatory gastropods, and ribbed mussels. Odors of blue crab s on different diets affect the type of negative response the snails d isplay.