Multimedia Gallery - A deep sea mollusc has a coat that protects it from penetration attack.

Illustration showing the coat that protects a deep-sea gastropod from a knight's lance.

February 5, 2010

A deep sea mollusc has a coat that protects it from penetration attack.

A recently discovered gastropod from the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent, called Crysomallon squamiferum, has an unusual shell structure superbly suited for protecting it against penetration attack. The outer layer is granular and composed of iron sulfide. The middle layer is much thicker than other mollusks generally have. These key points could be important in molluscan-inspired vehicle or personnel armor construction.

In this illustration, a knight attacks the gastropod with a lance, but the gastropod's iron-plated armor withstands his advance.

Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, inset after Haimin Yao et al., PNAS, January 2010

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