Gocea ohridana

The springsnail

Gocea ohridana is a springsnail in the family Hydrobiidae (order Littorinimorpha).

Range and habitat

It is found in Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia, in a small area of less than 10 square kilometres (3.9 mi2). It lives in rocky areas along the shores of Lake Ohrid, being found in sublacustrine springs underneath stones as deep as 3 meters (9.8 ft) below the water's surface. It faces threats such as deforestation leading to erosion that can impact the snail's ability to filter water. Pollution from sewage coming from major cities adjacent to the lake and from agricultural runoff into hydrologically connected Lake Prespa, and an increase in fire hazards in the region.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet

Springsnails graze biofilm in cold, stable water. A dried spring or a pumped aquifer can remove the only known population.

Snails move on a single foot and feed with a rasping tongue. Island and spring species rarely recolonise once the site is emptied.

In crisis

Because of its strict range, low abundance in findings, and threats to its specific environment, it has been classified as a 'Critically endangered' species by the IUCN Red List.

A springsnail listed from one source is one drought or one borehole away from an empty name.

Gocea ohridana is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Gocea ohridana, Wikidata item Q3109634. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.