{{Short description|Species of gastropod}} {{Speciesbox | image = | image_caption = | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |last1=Lepitzki |first1=D. |year=2017 |title=''Spurwinkia salsa'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T69616870A69632938 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T69616870A69632938.en |access-date=20 May 2026}}</ref> | status2 = G4 | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref name=NS>{{cite NatureServe |id=2.113979 |title=''Spurwinkia salsa'' |access-date=8 April 2026}}</ref> | taxon = Spurwinkia salsa | authority = (Pilsbry, 1905) | synonyms_ref = <ref name=WoRMS>{{cite WoRMS |title=''Spurwinkia salsa'' (Pilsbry, 1905) |id=160412 |db=mollusc |access-date=20 May 2026}}</ref> | synonyms = {{Species list |Paludestrina salsa|Pilsbry, 1905 |Hydrobia salsa|(Pilsbry, 1905)}} }}
'''''Spurwinkia salsa''''', commonly known as the '''saltmarsh hydrobe''',<ref name=IUCN/> is a species of very small aquatic snail, an operculate gastropod mollusk in the family Cochliopidae.<ref name=WoRMS/>
==Distribution== Distribution of ''Spurwinkia salsa'' in the North West Atlantic is from 44.01°N to 38.25°N and from 75.9°W to 69.6°W.<ref name="WoRMS 2010"/>
Distribution of ''Spurwinkia salsa'' in the USA: Gulf of Maine, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland.<ref name="WoRMS 2010"/>
== Description == The maximum recorded shell length is 7.1 mm.<ref name="Welch 2010">Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". ''PLoS ONE'' '''5'''(1): e8776. {{doi|10.1371/journal.pone.0008776|doi-access=free}}.</ref>
== Habitat == Brackish water.<ref name="WoRMS 2010"/> Minimum recorded depth is 0 m.<ref name="Welch 2010"/> Maximum recorded depth is 6 m.<ref name="Welch 2010"/>
== Life History == ''Spurwinkia salsa'' is a species of herbivorous snail that grazes on detritus, diatoms, and other species of periphyton in estuarine environments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pung |first=Oscar J. |last2=Grinstead |first2=C. Brad |last3=Kersten |first3=Kraig |last4=Edenfield |first4=Catherine L. |date=2008 |title=Spatial Distribution of Hydrobiid Snails in Salt Marsh along the Skidaway River in Southeastern Georgia with Notes on Their Larval Trematodes |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20204044 |journal=Southeastern Naturalist |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=717–728 |issn=1528-7092}}</ref> They also serve as prey for riparian and aquatic predators such as shorebirds, crabs, and fishes.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Spurwinkia salsa |url=https://invasions.si.edu/nemesis/species_summary/-680 |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's NEMESIS}}</ref>
''Spurwinkia salsa'' is native to shallow brackish waters along the eastern North American coast, occurring in the northwest Atlantic from New Brunswick, Canada to Florida, USA.<ref name=":12" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McAlpine |first=Donald F. |date=2005 |title=Spurwinkia salsa (Pilsbry 1905) (Gastropoda : Hydrobiid) in the Kennebecasis Estuary, New Brunswick: A brackish-water snail new to Canada |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283483686_Spurwinkia_salsa_Pilsbry_1905_Gastropoda_Hydrobiid_in_the_Kennebecasis_Estuary_New_Brunswick_A_brackish-water_snail_new_to_Canada |journal=Journal of Conchology |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=602–604 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref> An invasive population in south San Francisco Bay, California was also discovered in 2008; however, given their small size, these snails may have been introduced in the 19th or 20th century and not discovered until more recently.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Hershler |first=Robert |last2=Liu |first2=Hsiu-Ping |last3=Carlton |first3=James T. |last4=Cohen |first4=Andrew |last5=Davis |first5=Cheryl |last6=Sorensen |first6=Jeff |last7=Weedman |first7=David |date=2015 |title=New discoveries of introduced and cryptogenic fresh and brackish water gastropods (Caenogastropoda: Cochliopidae) in the western United States |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276839971_New_discoveries_of_introduced_and_cryptogenic_fresh_and_brackish_water_gastropods_Caenogastropoda_Cochliopidae_in_the_western_United_States |journal=Aquatic Invasions |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=147–156 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref> The most likely explanation for this invasion is anthropogenic transport, as this distribution cannot be reasonably explained by any of the species’s natural transport mechanisms.<ref name=":02" />
''Spurwinkia salsa'' do not demonstrate sexual dimorphism, with males and females having shells that are not significantly different from one another. On average, the shells of mature individuals are made up of 6.0 whorls; however, shells up to 6.5 whorls and over 7mm in length have been observed''.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=George M. |last2=Mazurkiewicz |first2=Michael |last3=Mandracchia |first3=Michael |date=1982 |title=Spurwinkia: Morphology, Systematics, and Ecology of a New Genus of North American Marshland Hydrobiidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4064844 |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |volume=134 |pages=143–177 |issn=0097-3157}}</ref>'' While previously described as ''Hydrobia salsa'', this species was later reclassified into the genus ''Spurwinkia'' due to observed differences in the digestive and reproductive tracts not seen in any other species of ''Hydrobia.<ref name=":22" />''
==References== This article incorporates CC-BY-SA-3.0 text from the reference<ref name="WoRMS 2010">Bouchet, P.; Rosenberg, G. (2010). Spurwinkia salsa (Pilsbry, 1905). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=160412 on 2011-02-07</ref> {{Reflist}}
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Category:Cochliopidae Category:Gastropods described in 1905 Category:Taxa named by Henry Augustus Pilsbry