Anchovy snail, family Leptosophyllaceae, large gastropod shellfish. In Hainan, it is also known as Dafa snail and sea god snail. It is named "anchovy snail" because of the beautiful pattern on the shell that resembles the tail feathers of the peacock.
The anchovy snail, together with the Tangguan snail, the Marlboros and the Nautilus, is called the world's four famous snails. Because of its unique appearance and peacock-like tail feathers, it ranks first among the four famous snails, and among all the shells, the anchovy snail is the most valuable.
The color of the conch is like the peacock tail wing, the layout is uniform, the color is colorful, the individual is large, and the shell table is richly decorated. The cockroach tower is high and pointed, less than half the height of the total shell, and the top of the snail is often missing.
Each wide body layer often has two distinct longitudinal ribs. The shell mouth is large , and the shell surface is milky white , with dark brown markings and crescent-shaped markings. The shell mouth is orange-brown with white grooves between the outer lip teeth. The shaft teeth are white and the interdental teeth are dark brown. Very shiny.
Its pattern is as brilliant as a "phoenix tail". The majestic and divine appearance is a symbol of strength, and it is said to drive away evil spirits and bless peace. Commonly used as a trumpet to exorcise demons, the sea people and mountain people are regarded as important ritual tools in Tibetan Buddhism and are highly revered.
Its shell length can reach more than 30 cm. At present, the length of the largest snail found in China is 77.14 cm, while the length of the national treasure-level cultural relics stored in the Potala Palace in Tibet is 57.7 cm.
Often inhabited by shallow coral reefs and rocky bottoms, the anchovy snail is an extremely valuable resource given to mankind by nature. Mainly distributed in the Indian Ocean, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and China and other warm sea waters, China's Taiwan, Hainan, Xisha Islands and other coastal intertidal zone to 150 meters deep seabed is the aggregation area of anchovy snail.
Juvenile shells
The shell of the anchovy snail is large, the shell is thick, and the shell surface is generally very decorative. The spiral is a pointed cone that blows out loud noises if the top of the shell is worn.
In ancient times, the dharma snail used in the monastic sermons was made in this way. Because the sound of the snail is grand and brave and far away, thick and loud, the Dharma ritual is prosperous, widely popular, and can cast demons, so it is called "Dharma Snail" (hereinafter referred to as "Dafa Snail").
In addition to Dafa snails, white snails, Tangguan snails and lead snails can also be used to make conch numbers. However, the conch made of Dafa snail is thicker, longer and thicker than the average conch, and emits a thicker sound.
In the post-Jin and early Qing dynasties, the Conch was mainly used in warfare, acting as the military horn used in modern armies.
By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Conch had largely disappeared from the battlefield and was only whistled ceremonially during the army's expedition and triumph. During this period, it appeared more during the celestial ceremonies and some other solemn ceremonies.
Later, the Conch was upgraded from the original military weapon and subsequent ceremonial instrument to an artifact, and was revered as the "Law Snail". In order to match the lofty status of the artifact, the conch is no longer shown in its simple nature, not only inlaid with gold and silver, but also inlaid with various gemstones to show its preciousness.
Winged snails
It is precisely because of this that the conch has become a favorite of contemporary collectors. During the Qianlong period, the exquisite degree of material and craftsmanship reached the extreme, so it was the most sought after by collectors.
Among them, the "Ming Winged Conch" collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Qing Copper Bagua Xiangyun Pattern Conch collected by the Tibet Museum, and the "Qing Qianlong Imperial Poetry Conch" collected by the Potala Palace are the most precious.
Some temples and nunneries in China often have Dafa snails enshrined, and there are poems: "Ring the Dharma snail in front of the temple and view hall, exorcise demons and avoid evil spirits and ensure peace", "Blow it and destroy the gods' joy, and if you hear it, you will destroy the sin barrier." In Buddhism, Dafa Luo is the symbol of the Buddha's Dharma sound and is a symbol of wisdom and strength.
Due to the small number, the price of Dafa snails on the market today has remained high. But collectors still love it.
Not only that, but Dafa snails are also natural enemies of long-spined starfish, known as coral killers, which eat corals on the surface of corals, leaving white coral bones.
On average, a crown of thorn starfish eats about two square meters of coral a day, and the amount of food is staggering. The most frightening thing is that the crown of thorn starfish will suddenly appear in large numbers of millions, eating the coral reef beyond recognition in a few days, causing serious damage to the coral reef ecology.
Crown of thorn starfish
To protect coral reefs and biological chains, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and other Pacific countries are also working to eradicate crown-of-thorn starfish.
However, the life force of the crown of thorn starfish is tenacious, even if the wrist is cut off or broken, it can still grow into a complete individual. And the adult crown of thorn starfish has almost no natural enemies (except for the Dafa snail), so it has little effect.
Later, after multi-party cooperation in Taiwan, the best method was found: to throw the captured live crown of thorn starfish in the aquarium of feeding Dafa snails as food, so that natural enemies could be destroyed.
On the one hand, it can eliminate the harm without destroying the food chain, on the other hand, it can accelerate the recovery and wild release of the snail, and then use the biological control method to achieve the purpose of removing the crown of thorn starfish. Taiwan has taken this approach to the world alone, and fishery experts from many countries have come to Taiwan to learn from it.
The Dafa snail, which lists the long-spined starfish on the recipe menu, has a complete and sensitive olfactory system, and once it smells the smell of prey around it, it will turn on the rampage mode and hunt the prey with great speed. After tracking the long-spined starfish, quickly cover their bodies with body weight and powerful gastropods!
With a specialized tooth tongue into the starfish central body disc, it immediately secretes a digestive juice containing sulfuric acid, waits until the long-spined starfish inner lump turns into a pool of soft juice, and then uses the mouthpiece to absorb it into the body for digestion, and has a full meal.
After a full meal, dafa snail usually takes a few days or more to digest this delicacy, coupled with the high requirements of dafa snail on the water environment, individual growth rate is slow. Therefore, the task of maintaining coral reefs is a long way off, and it is not enough to control the number of long-spined starfish and maintain ecological balance on one side.
After the scientists' research, it has also been confirmed that special chemicals are released from each other between dafa snails and long-spined starfish.
When the Dafa snail is aware of the presence of the long-spined starfish, it will actively follow its chemicals; conversely, when the long-spined starfish perceives that the Dafa snail is nearby, the long-spined starfish will flee in panic.
Therefore, scientists believe that the existence of Dafa snails alone can threaten long-spined starfish, forcing the long-spined starfish to spread out.
Due to its unique shell and the mysterious color attached to its body, Dafa snails are extremely popular in the collecting world. After a century of indiscriminate killing, the Dafa snail is on the verge of extinction in Australia and other regions, so the Australian government lists it as a protected animal and prohibits all capture.
Not only that, the Australian government has also proposed that the snail be included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to protect it from indiscriminate fishing. Due to the lack of data on the catch and trafficking of Dafa snails, the proposal was ultimately not adopted.
Therefore, Dafa snails are only protected in countries such as Australia and India, and can still be legally trafficked in other regions.
(Source: Baidu Encyclopedia, Oyster Shell Studio, Fossil Network/Penguin Stand-in, Network)