In the Mekong river basin found a new species of shellfish
VLADIVOSTOK, may 2 — RIA Novosti. Russian and Vietnamese scientists in a joint expedition in the Mekong river basin found several new species of mollusks of Vietnam, said on Tuesday the far Eastern branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.
Sunday ended the first phase of the Russian-Vietnamese expedition to study the estuaries of the rivers and fresh-water objects of South-West Vietnam, which was held in the framework of joint grant of the Vietnamese Academy of science and technology, Russian Academy of Sciences.
“During the week, the squad explored the biota of the estuaries of the rivers South-West coast of Vietnam and some unexplored freshwater facilities in the Mekong river basin. At each point samples were taken of water and bottom sediments samples of aquatic plants and invertebrates for analysis for the presence of pesticides and heavy metals. A unique collection of aquatic and terrestrial mollusks, of which several species for Vietnam was awarded for the first time. In addition, the cave system of rocks Fu Tu, located near the hon Chong was first discovered gastropod mollusk of the family Diplommatinidae with colorless and extremely elegant ribbed shell”, — stated in the message.
Scientists noticed that the front part of the body of this gastropod is capable of emitting a weak white glow. For the first time for the studied region it was noted the highest diversity of land snails.
The results of the expedition will present including at an international conference in Nochange (Vietnam) in September of this year.