A University of Alabama graduate student has discovered a snail in the Cahaba River that had been declared extinct 12 years ago.
Details of the discovery by student, Nathan Whelan, of the Oblong Rocksnail on May 22, 2011 are being published in the Aug. 8 issue of the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
Whelan said it's encouraging to find a species that was thought to be extinct.
The snail was found in a short stretch of the Cahaba near where the river crosses the Bibb and Shelby county lines.
The snail is about the size of a nickel with a yellow body and a black band on its head. Whelan said it had not been collected in more than 75 years.
READ MORE on this subject from the University of Alabama
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: UA website/Thomas Tarpley, ADCNR
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WSFA, a Raycom Media Station.
