SNAIL HEART (Part 3)


 <  Adult pond snail
(albino strain of Helisoma trivolvis)  

Estimate body size using scale bar. Location of heart is shown by black box.
The heart was viewed with LED illumination from underside.

          

< Enlarged view of adult snail heart      

Wait for animation image to load. Then, count the number of complete heartbeats during the 6 sec interval. Convert to units of beats per minute.

from video by T. Sheffield
 

Analysis of heart rate in relation to body size:
   1) Plot heart rate (in beats/min) versus body size (in mm) for snails of three different sizes:
        (a) see > newly hatched    (b) see > juvenile    (c) adult (see above)
   
  2) Is your plot linear? Describe and explain the relationship.
  
  3) Compare your data to previously collected data in Helisoma, as seen here > Data sets
 
  4)  Compare snail heart rates to those of other invertebrates.